Interesting Artifact Near Mansfield Dam

[In10se]

I'm not a historian and I don't have enough info on the towers yet, but ...

In a book called Cronies by Robert Bryce there is a bit of history on a company known as Brown and Root. In the beginning of the Johnson political era the company was heavily invested in the Marshall Ford Dam, almost to the point of financial collapse.

As then new Congressman Johnson's political horizons began to broaden he needed the backing of the serous players of that time and was tasked to secure federal funds for a contractor building the Marshall Ford dam in 1937. One thing that gets a good bit of mention is the investment in a giant cableway because the contractor managing the project, Brown and Root, was so heavily over-extended on the project. Then-Congressman Johnson was successful in getting Brown and Root the money from the fed's as well as all federal projects in his control directed towards them thus saving their corporate hinies. This saving of Brown and Root later netted him grocery bags full of hundred dollar bills totaling into the millions for his campaign chest greasing the way to his Presidency.

If we look at the way the structures stage out into the horizon, and if we consider the time stamp on the photo's, it gets hard to imagine them being anything else but those cable towers.

So, ... while diving down to have a look at those towers at the bottom of Lake Travis you might be looking back into time to the beginning of the relationship between Pres. Johnson and his major financiers Brown and Root.

Interestingly, this company that built these towers and put Pres. Johnson in the White House evolved into KBR and later spent over 40 years as part of ... Halliburton.

 

[richerso]

in10se,
I commend you for your research / history into Brown and Root. I don't know anything about their history.

I will add this. Brown and Root went on to become a major engineering firm (in size, business and engineering influence) in the modern development of the United States. Brown and Root, for decades ( I apologize. I think it was 1940 thru 1980), was a major engineering firm for electrical power plants of different sizes, shapes, and designs. I personally know that a lot of their electric power plant designs are still operating on the power grid for the United States.

Brown and Root, the engineering firm, later became part of, through some sort of merger, Kellogg, Brown and Root. I am not familiar with the details of this merger. Of course, we all knowthis company as KBR today. Yes. That KBR. The Iraq contracting firm responsible for all sorts of activities in Iraq. As of today, KBR, is some sort of small operating division of Halliburton.

Now mind you, I am not making a political statement here. I am merely trying to make a historical statement of fact. I will leave the political arguments to whomever wants to undertake them. That's not to say I won't participate in a political debate; it's just that this post is a factual statement without any political overtones. You can either like it; or not; but it is what it is.

 

[PvilleStang]

I know where it's at... Go to the far point of the mansfield cove, swim down to depth, and head with the contour away from the dam (in terms of the riverbed) and you should swim up on it within 10 minutes if I remember correctly. I know George @ CWD used it for several Holloween dives, hence the decorations on it if they've survived. There should also be a very large tree maybe ~10-20 yards north(?) of it connected by line, which goes up a good 30-40'. Should be another skeleton hanging in there from a noose (sp).

 

[k-valve]

I know where it's at...

We know where it is...we're wondering what it is.

 

[PvilleStang]

It's a jungle gym they put in for divers once the lake flooded, DUH!

 

[Joe-Diver]

We know where it is...we're wondering what it is.

My bet is a cableway tower.....

 

[k-valve]

My bet is a cableway tower.....

That's what we were thinking too. The only thing that makes us unsure is the one we saw was not between the dam and the Shaker Plant. It would definitely be out of the way to haul gravel along it that would be used to construct the dam.

Did they have them set up for other purposes in the vicinity? I've seen a map with towers located on the northeast side of Sometimes Island. The one we found is located just northwest of the point in Mansfield Park.

 

[PvilleStang]

Well, I would guess cableway, since I've heard a lot about them, and that was my first thought, but jeffro's pic noted in the post shows a power line running in parallel just yards away, so I'd consider maybe they were setting up temp lines that didn't require as many intermediate poles for when the water levels rose or while they diverted waters. I'd imagine they knew they had to move the poles downstream of the dam, so they wouldn't put in high quality poles, yet temp structures that could hold their weight.

 

[muddiver]

Those are towers for a cableway or tram system. It's the forerunner to the conveyor bet of moving bulk materials over long distance without building a road. Think of it like a ski lift over flat ground. It was probably used to move earth and rock to build the dam.

The towers are much too large for power or telephone. That is why there is a line of power poles running parallel to the cable towers.

 

[Zinc]

Those are towers for a cableway or tram system. It's the forerunner to the conveyor bet of moving bulk materials over long distance without building a road. Think of it like a ski lift over flat ground. It was probably used to move earth and rock to build the dam.

The towers are much too large for power or telephone. That is why there is a line of power poles running parallel to the cable towers.

I agree, that's what the ones in the pictures are, but I'm not sure about this one's original purpose and location. It is definitely not in line with the tramway from Shaker plant to dam. Perhaps it was moved from elsewhere prior to filling the lake? It is certainly a large structure to move without dis-assembling. I recall one leg is busted up, with a gap that would make a standing structure unsound.

I guess I need to go have another look