Jester Blvd. Im not sure the picture will so justice to the steepness of Jester Mountain. We won the contract to build that street down the steepest and longest grade of any in all of Austin. There being solid rock the entire way, blasting was required to move the mountain. Don, our blasting foreman would have his crew drill and blast, then David, my brother in law would push the broken rock downhill with a bulldozer. Then the same steps would be repeated, going a little lower and deeper in the rock each time to where final grade was achieved. At the crest of the hill we lowered the grade approximately 40 feet. We purchased a brand new Caterpillar D-8 Dozer and had it delivered to start that mammoth project. There was a large ripper tooth directly in the rear of it, to rip and pry out rocks. But if blasting was performed correctly, the ripper wasnt used that often. Most other companies, our competitors, didnt bid on the project. It was too risky. We werent wise enough to really understand risk. We were more into demonstrating our abilities on the most high profile projects we could find. The year was 1980. I turned 28 that year. Everyone that worked for Lewis was young and a little crazy. Only a few passes had been achieved on that top section of the new roadway. It was as steep as a horses face as the saying goes. Brother Kenny, the General Superintendent had made his way to the top of the mountain by way of small narrow cedar chopper roads that wound around the side of the mountain. With Kenny looking on Don set off a huge shot, creating a large pile of blasted rock. David started up the D-8 to make a new road through the pile of rubble, so the drills could start on the next series of blast holes. Kenny has always been impatient, wanting to keep moving. So as David starting his push down hill, Kenny following directly behind. The dozer wasnt going straight so David started backing up. The severe steepness of the grade did two things. It wouldnt let Kenny backup, instead his tires only set and spun in the loose rocks. David was positioned at such an incline he couldnt see anything behind him. As the dozer started to back up, Kenny could see what was getting ready to happen even if David couldnt. According to Don, who witnessed the whole thing said the pickup door flew open and Kenny was making tracks to get as far from there as he could. When Don finally got the attention of David the huge ripper was already setting in the middle of the windshield in Kenny brand new Ford pickup. A huge V was in the front of that truck. Kenny became much more aware of the dangers of pulling in behind that dozer after that.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 14:12:18 +0000
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