It was an unusual setting for the social event of the season, but then again, it's not exactly commonplace that a remote swamp swallows up a piece of heavy equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Friday, dozens of local residents braved subzero windchills, as they stood on the frozen marsh watching crews try to recover the 75 thousand pound Caterpillar excavator. "This backhoe's a huge machine to get out... you just wonder if it's gonna come out," laughed Ken Hickerson, as he watched crews from Veit Companies dig mud from around the big Cat, and attach cables to pull it out.
The heavy equipment fell through the ice last Thursday, while trying to help recover a skid loader owned by Tim Moe. Moe, a longtime area resident, was working on a snowmobile trail that runs through the swamp. "Taking care of the snowmobile trail... groomin it up, smoothin it out, widening it," recalled Moe, describing what he was doing when the bobcat plunged through the ice. "I think from now on, I'll just drive on the gravel road, and 'talk' about the swamp. It's safer that way."
Recovery crews worked diligently through the morning and afternoon, slowing righting the excavator so they could tug it out. Progress was slowed by broken equipment, and thick oozing mud that seemed to wrap back around the Cat 330 C almost as soon as it was dug out. Finally, late Friday afternoon, crews got it out of the muck.
(Copyright 2008 by KARE11. All Rights Reserved.)
