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Western Edition
March 17 2019 Vol. IX • No. 6
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Cleaning Up One Million Cubic Yards of Dirt By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT
RMACES Hosts Annual Conference & Equipment Show...20
Commitment to Culture Carries LeeBoy Beyond Family Roots...36
Any earthmoving project that lasts for six years and relocates more than 1 million cu. yds. of material qualifies as high-profile. Yet Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex remediation crews labor in relative solitude. They crank up their heavy machinery each work day in isolated, timber-screened mountain canyons of western Montana. Travelers on interstates or freeways cannot gawk as they pass the project because the work only intersects glancingly with a lightly traveled state highway. Large-scale but low-profile, out of sight and mind — the massive Upper Blackfoot reclamation project goes on year after year under the radar. The work itself dates to 2013, but the history really goes back to 1898 when a lead and zinc mine was developed in the crease of a mountain range drained by Mike Horse Creek. The mine was expanded in 1919 and reached peak productivity in the mid-1940s. In 1941, a
Caltrans Repairs Winter Storms Road Damage Calvin Group: A Lifelong Passion for Paving Equipment...52
Table of Contents ................4 California Section ........21-24 Asphalt, Concrete, Paving, Compaction & Milling Section ........................ 35-58 Auction Section ..........71-75 Business Calendar ............73 Advertisers Index ..............74
Caltrans photo
Crews must repair sections of the road bed, with slope loss under the road. See full story on page 21.
An MRC excavator loads a haul-truck. The creek is contained in the 19-in. pipeline to the right and the mounded material on which the excavator sits, as well as the roadway itself.
dam was built below the mine to contain the water-borne tailings. However, that earthen structure failed in 1975 after heavy rains inundated it. Contaminated water and a portion of the mining debris spilled into the drainage plain and migrated down the valley. In ensuing years, the environmental damage to the headwaters of the Blackfoot River — and to the cutthroat trout living therein — became undeniable and mining and smelting companies responsible for it tried to mitigate the disaster. They ultimately failed and a $39 million clean-up settlement was reached in 2008 with the state of Montana and the U.S. Forest Service. Remedial and restoration work began in earnest five years later. The task is two-fold: remove poisonous sludge and mining debris deposited downstream in 1975, then reshape the scraped and dug-up valley floor into something resembling a natural mountainous habitat. Two Montana agencies preside over this transformation: The Department of Environmental Quality is responsible for the remediation and the Natural Resource Damage Program superintends restoration. The question is, will anyone 50 years from now appreciate all this remedial work in 6 sq. mi. of an isolated mining district boasting such intriguing creek names as Mike Horse, Bear Trap and Anaconda? Dave Bowers believes they will. Bowers is project manager of the Waste Management and Remediation Services Division of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. see MINE page 60