82 feet up in the air on a free standing tower taking down over a 125 tons of
beaux arts column on a lean is not my cup of tea;
 the first stone to come off was a torchere' with massive eternal flame
that weighs over 14,000 lbs and went  almost off the computer scale on the
180 ton crane making the pick.
The stone dogs(lift pins) are counter sunk and rated for 9 tons; the enormous
pressure of the pick makes them groan, and literally smoke as the pull is
made from century old lime mortar putty and failed  ferrous pins binding them
in pressure and time.
 There is a pregnant moment as the dogs dip and tighten causing worrisome
micro cracks than you watch helplessly meander in a wild craze across the
face of the pin location ..puffing little puffs of smoke of  crushed granite
dust like a miniature run away choo choo  that raises the hairs on the back
of your neck in a cold sweat until finally the lifting dogs  settle and find
their bite of greatest strength thus   enabeling the raising of  the stone in
a sudden give of shattered joints and falling debris re-birthing a sleeping
giant airborn once again in 80 odd yrs
   ...or ....and this is its  more deadly option .....that the enormus
pressure of the lift will find a small un seen void thus  splitting the stone
through an unknown fault...causing the stone to lift and fall ....taking you
and the scaffold down with it..
.Micro cracks in such work that are not visible are the curse in all stone
work..
..they are rare..but the possibility of them there is real .
 You can break the joint; and get it to wiggle with heavy bars; but the dogs
do the real work; and when 3 to 7 tons pull from its source it can bounce and
"kiss" its sister stones in the neighboring  entablature with deadly results;
a skilled crew must be ready to move fearlessly into the pull and " catch"
the stone at the moment of birth in mid air with in place lariats ; hooked
bars and cushioned wood preventing the deadly kiss that can push the whole
mass over.
 While all this is going on the dogs groan ; smoke ; spall and hopefully find
their mark and crucial bite.
.The strain on the men at the moment of the pull is so intense as it is one
of those moments where in a twinkling of the eye it can all go wrong very
quickly....
 there is no where to go if the column goes down we all go down;
simple as that.
We have done our homework ; sound testing and rocking the set where we can;
but still our shirts are soaking wet with sweat of the small percent of the
unknown; the ellusive one missed detail ;the overlooked condition that we
have trained lifetimes for race through our minds as we affirm our readiness
for the pick.
Each pick is organized with military precision ; with every step ; each
station is checked and rechecked; before the crane is radioed and skillfully
led through a calculated pull the operator cannot see
Once the pick is made it can be set back down on 4x4 's  where heavy basket
straps can lift the mass in a choker through the chute of the scaffold.
 Working from an independent man lift would be impossible and not an option
concerning site conditions;
Each drum is made of 4 parts ; each part weighs 6,000 lbs there are 9   7ft
drums 5 ft wide 2ft thick set in lime ; the lime did not fail the pins and
the base failed plus it was struck by lighting several times.
The interior of the column has a small hollow core that   was infested with
thousands of red wasps; and spiders you could put a leash on; to make matters
worse as the drums came down a large 5 ft snake was observed at the base of
the interior of the column feeding on small rodents that may wander in thru
the large displaced joints.

We found a 1905 newspaper at the 60 ft level and there are known time
capsules buried in the base which we hope to get to next week

for professional reasons I would like to let the  project be nameless; as my
description above is about the work and unknown conditions that can face even
the most seasoned investigator;and nothing else ... contact me privately
should you wish for  any further query ....
the men involved were all former Cathedral builders; and several crane
companies declined the work citing concern over the lean and displacement of
stone; there were some great engineers that confirmed our calculations that
all that mass was still in compression although they declined to be on
scaffold  at the time of the pick; sucess has a thousand fathers ;failure is
an orphan..best Michael

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