Harbor scene early Saturday morning,
Mike Kahr's barge being positioned
for drilling final core samples. (Purinton)
 

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

This is being written Tuesday morning, on what we hope will be the final day of major dredging at the Potato Dock.  There will be more dredging over the next few weeks, but in smaller volumes, as areas around the main ferry landings are brought to useable depths.

A reminder of the Potato Dock dredging project goal:  safe navigation and maneuverability at one island landing for our winter ferry, Arni J. Richter (draft of slightly over 11-ft.,loaded.)  The Detroit Harbor channel is now too shallow to chance regular passage with that ferry, the Ferry Line's only ice breaking vessel.   Other ferries draw less water, and because we've not had ice to contend with yet this winter, we've made daily trips much as before, loading at our regular docks using the ferry Washington. (Eyrarbakki and Robert Noble are currently in winter lay-up.)

Roen's project supervisor and crew chief Don Sarter said, "It's time.  We're ready to head home.  It's been a long season."  Ice hasn't yet set in near Sturgeon Bay heavy enough to cause them difficulties in navigating home, a good thing, and winter maintenance and a return to more normal working hours and home life lies ahead.  The crews work in the outdoors, 10-12 hour days, with two crews alternating shift time since Jan. 2nd in order to gain on the production of dredge spoils.

Mike Kahr arrived in port with his barge Wednesday from Fish Creek, and he provided a work platform for Subsurface Exploration Services, LLC, of Green Bay, with its drill rig and operators, along with a Foth Environmental Engineering representative as observer.  Their objective was to obtain representative core samples along the channel bottom that will reveal what type of material a contractor  might encounter after the channel dredging project is bid.  (We're saying "when,"not "if," with optimism that project funding will be approved, in this case by the State of Wisconsin.)

Core sampling resumed Saturday morning for the final holes (and that's when the above photo was taken) as the Kahr barge with drill rig and workers headed out the channel.   Early morning conditions were perfect for stable drilling outside the harbor entrance light.  The photo below was taken by Jim Rose earlier, on Friday, when the rig worked near lighted aid #5.

Kahr work barge with drill rig.  (Jim Rose photo)

 Regular traffic and logging trucks  continued to be ferried aboard the Washington.  Saturday, with Captain Bill Jorgenson down with the flu and Joel Gunnlaugsson driving dump truck, I had a chance to try the helm on three round trips.

Saturday morning log trucks. (Purinton)

Aside from light ice surrounding island landings, no ice is in sight on the route, getting on in January for such a condition to be observed.  It makes me wonder what ice cover we'll ultimately see over upper Green Bay this winter.

While the lack of ice and extreme cold aided greatly to complete the recent weeks' dredging and trucking tasks, ice cover can supposedly slow evaporation of surface water, at least from that small percentage of the lake typically ice covered each winter.  Aside from the rain, sleet and snowfall of several weeks ago, we've since had a dry spell for precipitation.

Monday brought very strong SW winds (30+ mph), but both the Kahr and Roen crews kept dredging, two excavators digging from neighboring barges, tucked in the lee of  the Potato Dock to find calm water.  Sunday's production marked what may have been the highest 12-hour volume so far.  It took more than 66 truckloads to empty the barge, given a good daytime production.  The pile of spoils on the barge was being replenished every few hours with the added stones and hardpan from Mike Kahr's barge.

-  Dick Purinton

AGAIN ??

Seems like the same old story, digging, trucking and muck.  
But each day holds newchallenges.  Current dredge spoil 
totals are now slightly over the half-way mark
objective in terms of volume of spoils, and
not quite half-way in bottom area to be dug.

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island

-  Last Day, 2012  -

By far the largest dredging project yet undertaken by the Ferry Line is the deepening of waters adjacent to the Island Potato Dock.  In the warmer weather of any other season, a successful project conclusion would be assumed as only a matter of time and money.  But with winter coming on, short daylight hours, temperatures sure to drop below the pleasant upper 20s of the past weeks, and equipment and people increasingly under strain, achievement of our goal is still a ways off.

"No, not another blog on dredging," was a comment I received, directed toward the series of reports with similar themes of late.

I can't help myself!  I find the combination of big equipment, the project scale and challenges too intriguing to pass up.  And, that doesn't begin to address the alternatives if the Ferry Line and the Island can't have one, safe ferry landing site come real winter.  Not succeeding is just something none of us can begin to contemplate.  So... its dig and haul, dig and haul, until sufficient material is removed.

"Why is this being done so late in the season?" is one question we've been asked.

The project as it stands on this last day of the year is a culmination of action begun months ago.  First, as water levels were monitored, we hoped the drop would not lead to extremes requiring immediate dredeging.  The cost of such activities was huge enough that we waited until we were sure certain there were no other options besides expenditure for dredging.

The paperwork - the filing of permit applications for state and local approvals that allow a project like this legally go forward began in early October.  That was when falling lake levels sounded serious alarms for the consequences of the coming winter's navigation.  We were fortunate in the permitting process to have had the prompt and full cooperation of regional WDNR administrative and Door County Zoning personnel,  We believe they helped to speed the permitting for this project more than would typically have been the case.  Our permits were received in mid-December, and at that time we had already set a tentative start date for digging.

There was also the verbal lining-up of a marine contractor.  Although we had Mike Kahr on the way, after he completed work at another site in Fish Creek, the scope of this project and the slippage of time brought further concern.  That led to our asking Roen by the middle of December to consider our job once their work in Egg Harbor was completed.  This they agreed to do.   We were fortunate to have the understanding and support from both Roen and Kahr.  Everyone understood that this dredging needed to be done ASAP.   As it happened, we are relying on the equipment of each marine contractor.

Critical in this project, too, is the willingness of Island men who own and drive dump trucks.  They've been willing to operate their trucks, loaded ten yards at a time, for five or six round trips - about 3.5 hours - per material barge load.  They appear at the Potato Dock after an advance phone call from Rich Ellefson.  Rich then works either on shore coordinating the trucking, or he monitors dredging progress and operates a skidster to assist cleaning out corners on the material barge.

Without the help of Pete Nehlsen, Dave Hanlin, David Small, Mike Jorgenson, Tim Ervin, Tom Jordan, Drew Rainsford and Jon Mann, plus one of Mike Kahr's dump trucks driven by Joel Gunnlaugsson (or myself, one day), and Hoyt Purinton supervising the pit dumping activities, the dredged material would soon stockpile on the barge and the entire project would be slowed.  Thanks also to Julian Hagen for consenting to receive spoils at his gravel pit.  Because the Hagen site is close, a truck can make the round trip in 30 minutes or less, when all goes smoothly.

Dave Hanlin, Rich Ellefson, Con McDonald
lent a hand in pulling slack on the hoist cable.

Rigging the cable for the clamshell used for offloading
stopped production Saturday evening for about 30 minutes.
Rich Ellefson, Dave Hanlin and others assisted Roen crew in
refastening the cable.

Tom Jordan drove his dump truck for every off-load, and he's also operated the Kahr excavator.  Saturday, I observed Tom as he climbed down from the excavator following a continuous, five-hour shift of digging.  (The excavator didn't have heat in the cab.)  Cold and stiff-legged, he crossed the barge deck to get behind the wheel of his truck.  Later that evening, while the bucket cable was undergoing repairs,  he laughed and joshed with other drivers, surprisingly fresh and enthusiastic.

View from behind the wheel of a Mack.  I kidded Pete Nehlsen about
"catching up with me," when actually he'd lapped
me earlier on the pit turn-around.   Good drivers can haul, dump, re-do
tailgate "sludge locks" and be positioned for
another load in less than 30 minutes.  It's no space shuttle cabin, with
half-a-dozen buttons and as many procedures for dumping, but I 
barely kept up.   A clutch failure sidelined my truck later, that evening.

Now, with a two-day holiday break coming, Roen's lead man Don Sarter indicated he'll return after New Year's with enough men for two shifts to enable round-the-clock digging.  The Roen crew is just as concerned about finishing the job for the Island as they are to complete their season and get their equipment safely back to homeport in Sturgeon Bay.

So, thanks for indulging me in yet one more report on dredging.  It's critical to the well-being of Washington Island to have this work done.  We could say that the stakes have never been higher.  For that, we're thankful for the willing participation of many hands during the recent days.
  -  Dick Purinton

COMPLETION OF HARBOR AIDS TO NAVIGATION

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Roen Salvage work barge No. 73 entered Detroit Harbor late Wednesday morning, and within approximately 5 hours the crew had set the two aluminum poles atop Aids to Navigation bases #4 and #5.  I had received an email or two asking about the completion of these cylinders just the previous day, and as if prompted by public curiosity, the tug and barge appeared, rounding Door Bluff on a stiff southerly breeze with the two towers on deck.

These towers appeared to be fabricated entirely of welded aluminum, built and installed to fail-proof federal government (U. S. Coast Guard) specifications, with foot pegs and a trap door for access to the light platform.  Each all-alminum platform with rails will hold a battery, solar panel, light and day boards.  These light bases are substantial, bolted to the top of robust - some have used the word "overbuilt"- concrete, steel and rock pedestals.  These massive objects take the place of the former red nun and green can floating buoys that were held on station by chain and concrete sinker.

The Roen tug Charles Asher and the work barge under command of Don Sarter, having finished their work here, then waited until the southerly winds diminished before setting a course in northern Lake Michigan for the Straits of Mackinac, St. Mary's River, and then a long tow across Lake Superior to Duluth.  There, contract work involving dredging and driving pilings awaits in Duluth harbor.

This morning, Thursday, by 10:30 a.m., U. S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation personnel from Milwaukee's Sector Lake Michigan were on hand to complete activation of the aids.  Green or red day boards were bolted to the railings, solar panels installed, and a corresponding light with battery were added to the circuit, making the aids fully functional.

Arni J. Richter approaches island dock as Coast Guard personnel
complete work on light structure #5.

Mariners are advised to keep both hands on the wheel and reduce speed when approaching these new, immoveable objects!

-  Dick Purinton

Buoys Replaced By Structures

Detroit Harbor -

Two of the floating aids in the Detroit Harbor channel, buoys number 4 and 5, are being replaced by permanent structures.  The new aids to navigation will be solid cylinders of steel, cement and stone, anchored by nine H-piles into bedrock, and topped with a steel pole upon which will be a light, solar panel and battery.

This contract, estimated to be in the half-million dollar range, was bid to the Rock company of Pontiac, Michigan.  Door County marine contractor Roen Salvage, of Sturgeon Bay, is the major sub-contractor.  Other subcontractors include the drilling company that bored the holes for the pilings, and suppliers of the buoy cylinders and light towers.

Two of Roen's work barges are shown in the photo here shortly after they began the project.   Pipes of 14" diameter were set into the bottom a the buoy locations, then used as guides as they were drilled out, down three feet into bedrock.  Nine H-piles per navigation aid were then inserted into the drilled holes inside each pipe, and then epoxied into place using a special grout mixed with sand.   The pipes were removed once the epoxy was set

These permanent aids to navigation had been proposed for several years by the U. S. Coast Guard, but funding wasn't in hand until this fiscal year.   The new aids should eliminate drift from station (something that did occur with the older, floating buoys, especially as ice forced against them).  Batteries, solar panels and bulbs can be accessed easily for servicing by Coast Guard Aids to Navigation team members by small boat.  Formerly, a shallow-draft Coast Guard vessel would cross the lake from its home port in Muskegon to lift the floating aids with an A-frame, and its crew would inspect each chain and sinker.  The buoys would then be repainted, with chain replaced, if needed, before being reset on station.  

The tops of the new 12-ft. diameter cylinders will stand approximately 7 1/2 feet above water level, and  have a nearly 20-ft. mast on top of that.  These will make a strong target on radar scopes, and they will also be more easily seen during nighttime or low visibility by vessel operators.  (One of two cylinders is shown in the photo below as it is lifted from the semi to the Roen work barge, alongside Northport Pier.)

Roen Salvage is the largest and oldest marine contractor in the area.  This company typically bids on  marine construction projects such as dredging, break wall and dock construction around the Great Lakes.  From Detroit Harbor, this rig will prepare to sail to the upper St. Mary's River, where several similar, but larger, navigational aids will be constructed.  When that job is completed, the construction equipment will be towed to Duluth harbor at the western end of Lake Superior for another project that will include dredging of 200,000 cu. yds. and driving pilings for commercial shipping.

Actual work on the Detroit Harbor aids to navigation began Monday, May 24, after the equipment had been mobilized to the island. Work is expected to be completed - barring delays in supply of the light towers - by Friday, June 8th.   The steel cylinders that shape the base of the aids and the light pole assemblies are pre-fab items subbed to another company in the Fox Valley.  Delays in receiving those items could possibly prolong the project's completion.

Shown below is Don Sarter, Construction Supervisor and a 39-year Roen employee, who also operates the tug Stephan M. Asher that tows and positions the work barges.

Not yet known, but to be determined soon, is the fate of the dredging application by the Town of Washington for the Detroit Harbor channel.  This application, submitted earlier this calendar year, is believed to have cleared the citizen's committee that reviews such applications.  If so, it now awaits further review for approval by the WISDOT secretary, and finally, approval and signature must be given by Wisconsin's governor.   If approval is given and funding is released, this would mean a huge improvement for Washington Island, a major dredging operation that will widen and deepen a  navigation channel last touched in 1937!

This project could possibly be undertaken yet this calendar year.  However, approval and funding dollars through a Wisconsin Harbor Assistance Program Grant to the Town of Washington must first receive approval in order for any dollars to be allocated.  There were four or five other Wisconsin commercial port applicants, each with worthy projects competing for those same dollars.

-  Dick Purinton