Page:Wawona Road (HAER No. CA-148) written historical and descriptive data.pdf/15

 25 July. Control stations were maintained at Alder Creek Ranger Station and Grouse Creek.75

By the end of August, Connelly had completed work on 1.8 miles of its segment, and had rough graded another half mile. Bechtel had rough graded 4.1 miles, and its culvert at Alder Creek was 25 percent complete. In September, contracts were let for work on the 11-mile section between Eleven Mile Station and Grouse Creek; the chosen contractor was the Welch & Murdock Company. Welch & Murdock began work on 26 September; they established their construction camp at Chinquapin Flat.76 This camp was later used for the reconstruction of the Glacier Point Road.

At the end of November, most of the clearing work for the new Wawona Road between Wawona and Grouse Creek was complete, and the section on to Turtleback Dome was well underway. The Connelly company was overdue by this point, and did not finish its work until 21 December. The section between Alder Creek and Eleven Mile Creek was complete and open to traffic. On the segment between Eleven Mile Station and Grouse Creek, Welch & Murdock had rough graded one mile, and a subcontractor had installed box culverts at Avalanche Creek and Grouse Creek. Welch & Murdock's equipment included two power shovels, four trucks and a caterpillar grader; 40 men were employed. On November 27, the Contoules Construction Company of San Francisco was awarded the contract for the 2.19-mile segment of the road between Grouse Creek and Turtleback Dome; their bid had totalled $89,900.50. Clearing on this section began on 21 April 1930.77

Contoules Construction Company proved a troublesome contractor. The company requested permission to build a "tote road" from the old road at Inspiration point down to the new section on Turtleback Dome; its request was denied, as the Park Service feared the road would make an unacceptable scar. In July, the company was warned it was not adequately protecting trees and vegetation, it was using excessive amounts of blasting powder, and was sidecasting materials onto the slopes below the road in violation of its contract. The company persisted in these practices, and on 24 June the company was shut down until it brought in trucks to remove the blasted materials. On 21 July, Tolen shut down its operations again for excessive blasting. After two days, the company agreed to adhere to its contractual agreements, and work resumed.78

Goerig & Dahlberg of Seattle, Washington was chosen as contractor for last section of the main road, between Turtleback Dome and the Yosemite Valley floor. This section included construction of the tunnel, as well as masonry retaining walls, reinforced concrete culverts and some corrugated pipe culverts. The first survey line was run in 1926, but the tunnel was relocated and the final survey of this section was not completed until December 1929.79

While work on the Wawona Road was in progress, the NPS had a new road route surveyed to connect Wawona with the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. The initial survey, conducted in 1927, called for a road along Big Creek, but this route was rejected as it passed in part through a logged area. The route was resurveyed in 1929. Bids for grading and construction of the spur road were opened on 24 July 1930, and on 7 August the contract was awarded to the George Pollock Company of Sacramento, which had bid $202,787.32. Pollock began work in August, employing 50 men with two power shovels, two trucks and a caterpillar grader. By the end of September, the company had rough graded one mile of its segment. At the same time, Contoules had rough graded a 2-mile section. Welch & Murdock had completed work on its 5.1-mile portion; it had sublet the construction of two reinforced concrete culverts at Grouse Creek and Avalanche Creek to J. C. McLeman.80