That day the cutterhead jammed on a submerged log pile in the Columbia River

We were working a stretch near Longview, Washington, trying to clear a channel. The dredge was pulling fine, then the whole thing just shuddered and stopped dead. The pressure gauges spiked, and I knew we'd hit something solid. Shut it down, had to send a diver down to look. Turns out there was a whole tangled mess of old sunken logs and debris we didn't see on the sonar. Took the crew six hours to rig chains and pull it all clear with the workboat. Lost a full day's production and had to check the cutter teeth for damage after. Ever have a hidden snag like that ruin your whole schedule?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah8187d ago

Trying to clear a channel near Longview" is a bit off, since that's a dredging job, not logging.

val_williams7d ago

Yeah, @sarah818 has a point about it being dredging work, but that hidden timber is a common headache for both fields. Doesn't matter if you're pulling logs or clearing a channel, old sunken wood is a menace. It's never where you think it is, and it always costs you time and money when you find it the hard way. Makes you wonder what else is down there that the gear just doesn't pick up.

drew_reed627d ago

Ugh, tell me about it. We were pulling stumps last fall and the sonar showed clear, but the grapple hit a whole buried logjam. Took two days to untangle that mess.