It took 11 years, loads of equipment and multiple attempts to pull an excavator-turned-landmark out of an east-central Saskatchewan lake.
But for the owner of the company that got the job done, it was just another day.
“They said it couldn’t be done,” said Lance Lund with Raptor Picker Services and Hotshots. “So we were out there to show it can be.
“It was a challenge, 100 per cent, but we worked as a team and had a pile of support.”
The story of the excavator began in March 2014, before the spring thaw, when the driver of the equipment fell through the ice on Quill Lakes, north of Regina.
Saskatchewan’s environment ministry says it happened during a highway project when the operator attempted to cross the frozen lake.
“No environmental impacts were ever reported, and the Ministry of Environment was not involved in recovery operations, as no discharge had occurred,” it says in a statement.
As years became a decade, the excavator stayed put and became somewhat of a monument. It’s even listed on Google as a former historical landmark, receiving cheeky five-star reviews.
“Rest in peace, noble machine,” writes one user.
“An important part of our Canadian heritage,” writes another.
“Someone sacrificed his excavator so we don’t have to. Now we know we can’t take an excavator there.”
Howie Linnen, the reeve of Big Quill, said people checked out the excavator as they drove by on the nearby highway.
“There was very little said to us. Nobody lodged a complaint,” he said. “But (the removal) is good for the environment, so it’s a win-win for everybody.”
The Quill Lakes are a series of saline lakes considered important for the staging and breeding of shorebirds.
Jason Friesen, reeve for the Rural Municipality of Lakeside, said the excavator drew in people who wanted to take a look.
“It wasn’t good to leave it in there that long, but, under the circumstances, it was the best they could do,” Friesen said. “They tried to get it out before, but couldn’t.”
Linnen and Lund said seven or so different operators tried to pull it out but were unsuccessful.
Lund said he first saw the failed attempts online.
“There was a bounty out for it,” he said. “We’ve pulled cats out of the ice before — nothing to this extent — but we put a plan together and all worked as one.”
The environment ministry says the Water Security Agency, which manages the province’s water system, issued a permit in June for the excavator’s retrieval.
Lund’s team went to the lake the following month.
He said they removed the excavator using a pulley system that allowed them to lift it onto mats. Bed trucks, pickers, track hoes and other equipment were involved.
Lund said oil leaked out of the machine, but they mopped it up.
Everything else remained intact, he said.
“It was another day in our world. We deal with a lot of different things and, at the end of the day, it wasn’t all that hard to put a plan together and get it out,” he said.
He said the excavator remains at his shop in Lloydminster, the city built on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.
He’s still ironing out details on whether he can keep it, he said, adding the payment terms for its removal are confidential.
“There’s a few people that are still up in there asking, ‘Why would you take it out of there? This was a monument,'” he said. “But at the end of the day, there is fish in that lake.
“A lot of people don’t believe it, but we actually saw quite a few of them washing up on shore when we were pulling it out.”
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