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Had a near-miss with a hidden cable crossing the Deschutes River last fall.
We were pulling a 10-inch cutterhead through a gravel bar when the whole rig shuddered and the engine load spiked. Turns out a fiber optic line, not on any of our charts, had snagged on the ladder. We had to shut down, call the utility company, and wait four hours for a diver to confirm it was clear. Anyone else run into uncharted stuff like that, and how do you double-check your dig area?
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patricialee16d agoMost Upvoted
Honestly, is a four hour shutdown that big a deal? Happens all the time with weather or equipment issues. You found it, you stopped, you called the right people. That's just the job. I've pulled up old logging cables and concrete chunks no map ever showed. You can't double-check everything, sometimes you just hit stuff.
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beth_reed16d ago
Yeah, that's the truth. The maps are never the full story. I once cut a fiber line that was supposed to be three feet to the left. Spent the whole afternoon watching someone splice it back together. You just have to roll with the hits.
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gavinwells16d agoMost Upvoted
Read an article where a crew hit an uncharted gas line from the 1950s. The maps just don't show everything that's down there. You really do have to expect the unexpected.
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