By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
What does it take to move a rock that weighs nearly 10 tons? A few good men and some heavy equipment.
The Welcome to Downtown Arkadelphia rock was removed from its original location Thursday morning and hauled away for storage until city officials determine its next home. That decision will likely come once the Arkansas Department of Transportation has finished the Arkadelphia Bypass highway project.
Work started for Busy B Tree Service around 7:45 a.m. on on a mild February morning. A track-hoe operator dug a waist-deep trench around the base of the rock, the bottom of which was encased in about 3,000 pounds of concrete. TJC Crane Services of Camden lifted the massive limestone boulder, clocking its total weight at 19,000 pounds.
The rock was hoisted onto a flatbed trailer. Initially the crew had intended to lay the rock flat on its side, but worried it might split in half opted instead to set it upright. The rock was secured by way of several ratchet straps for its transport to Dexter Florence Memorial Field. The 18-wheeler hauling it to its storage spot was given a police escort along Caddo Street to U.S. Highway 67. At the southern end of town the convoy crossed the Union Pacific railroad onto Nowlin Drive toward the rock’s final/temporary destination in a gated storage area at the airport.
After the slow-and-steady trip of nearly 2 miles, the crew was preparing to unload the rock by 11 a.m.
You know the entertainment options in a small town have hit “rock bottom” when you find yourself spending an entire morning spectating the removal of a big rock. We asked Brian Vandiver, owner of the Arkadelphia-based Busy B Tree Service, if the rock relocation ranked among the oddest jobs he’s done. His answer: “No, not really.” Vandiver said his strangest gig to date has been erecting a 450-foot tower on the top of a mountain in Northwest Arkansas — in 15-degree weather. But Vandiver agreed that it’s not every day that his crew is hired to move a 10-ton rock.
Funded by a streetscape beautification grant, the rock was part of downtown Arkadelphia since the mid 20-teens.
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