Sunday, June 4th, 2000-
Arrived at 4:00 PM. Warren, Tom (DEC), Larry Brown, Gary (from PBS) and
John Chiment doing GPR work on north end of lake between lake basin and
spoil piles.
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| Left: Warren Allmon and Larry Brown looking
at data recovered from a device called a "ground penetrating
radar (GPR)". Right: Collecting data with a GPR,
which allows scientists to, in effect, see underground. |
Monday, June 5th-
Arrived on site at 7:30 AM to assist Larry Brown, John Chiment and WDA
with GPR over north end of lake (on water). Collection of data completed
by 9:30 AM. Vanessa Willard, Paul Krohn, Bridget Rigas arrived at 1:30,
got pumps and began pumping lake at ~3 PM that afternoon. 2 pumps going
overnight, with Paul Krohn staying there overnight in the garage to keep
refilling gas and making sure pumping was going as planned.
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| Warren Allmon setting the intake hose into the water. This pump
was one of many that was used to drain the pond. |
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Tuesday, June 6th-
Arrived on site at 9:30 AM. Lake was entirely drained except for deep
holes that had been dug in fall '99. Attempted to place boards in and
around hole on north end of pond (near where it was suspected that the
bones were located). Rain made it nearly impossible to keep hole dry for
any extended period of time, in conjunction with at least 2 groundwater
springs located in the hole. At around 4PM, it was realized that we were
fighting a losing battle, and called it a day. WDA left town at around
5 PM. Brainstorming session that night between Paul Krohn, Pete Nester,
Bridget Rigas, and Vanessa Willard created a plan to keep the hole dry
as well as keep the sides of the hole from collapsing inward. Firstly,
a 2' X 2' box was to be constructed and placed around one of the main
groundwater springs at the center of the hole. The box would be driven
into the bottom of the hole using 6' long poles. A sump pump would then
be placed inside the box, keeping the local water table down and water
out of the main body of the hole. 2 - 4' long X 2' high retaining walls
were also to be constructed and placed at the east and south ends of the
hole to keep the hole from collapsing. This would also be driven into
the ground using 6' long poles.
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| Left:Tom Lake, Pete Nester, Bridget Rigas
and Warren Allmon attempt to "walk on water" by placing
pallets and other boards around hole in preparation for digging at
the north end of the pond. They are also discovering that it is difficult
to work at the bottom of a pond in a torrential downpour. Right:
Vanessa Willard, Tom Lake, and Bridget Rigas talk strategy. |
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Wednesday, June 7th-
Arrived at 8AM. Record rainfall from the day before finally ended at 5AM
that morning. Much of lake was still drained - it was later discovered
that homeowner Larry Lozier had turned on one of the pumps and begun draining
the lake at 6AM that morning. Bridget and myself started up the pumps
immediately, while Paul and Vanessa went to buy the lumber and other equipment.
By 9:30, the lake was drained, except for the 3 deep holes. John Chiment,
his wife Vicki, and Sandy Burr arrived at ~11 AM. Vicki was discouraged
that she could not "smell mastodon" in the humic sediments. *** A 6' long,
1 1/2" diameter PVC pipe was driven into the lake for coring purposes.
Sandy Burr, Tom (from DEC) Vicki, and John Chiment sieved material from
lake while the sump was driven into the area around the spring. When sump
was not drained immediately, water level inside rose to the point that
this overlying water pressure forced the spring to change located, to
the east of the sump. 6' long stakes were determined to be too long, so
~2' was cut from the top the poles after the sump had already been positioned.
This allowed for sump to be "sledged" into position. A happy accident
occurred when the box itself lost integrity, but only to the point where
a 2" wide parting along one of the corners allowed water into the sump,
but not so much that rendered the structure ineffective. One pump drained
the hole itself, while the other drained the sump. 4 X 4's where used
in the hole to provide a stable place from which to work at excavating
the sides of the walls. It was determined that the retaining walls were
not necessary since, with no rain, the walls showed much more integrity
than had been previously expected. John and Vicki Chiment left the site
at around 4PM, having found "mastodon droppings" and "hair". Vicki was
guardedly optimistic, having detected a "faint smell of mastodon, although
not as strong as at the Watkins site". Several hours of digging into the
eastern and southern ends of the hole at the north end of the lake revealed
nothing more than clams and snails, as well as wood fragments, dropstones,
etc. Probing into the sediments revealed a possible lead, and so a posthole
digger was used to work through the basal clay. 2 probes (done by Peter
Nester) seemed to indicate something, but a third probe left us a bit
more skeptical. It was soon discovered that beneath the basal clay lay
a gravel layer, which was, in fact, what the probe had been hitting all
along. Once the gravel layer had been reached with the post hole digger,
water immediately filled the hole - must have been (at least one of) the
aquifer(s) feeding the lake. Another spot dig just to the east of the
hole (due to the probe hitting something) revealed a 9" diameter rock.
Warren returned at ~6 PM. 2 more pumps were rented.
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| With dry weather (finally), digging begins in the pit in earnest. |
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Thursday, June 8th-
A phone call at 6AM from Sheryl Lozier told us that we had procured a
frontloader (20' reach) to excavate the pond much more quickly - Warren
and I arrived at 6:45 and started 3 pumps. The fourth pump was broken.
Excavator Wayne Mallen arrived at 8:30 and began dredging the pond. First,
from the west end of the north hole to the lake shore (~20' length, total),
then to the east end of the hole. Stratigraphy indicted that the top banded
clay layers thinned rapidly away from the center of the lake. When this
turned up nothing, he moved to the hole at the SE end of the lake, and
excavated to the north and south of the hole, with no finds. The same
thinning was much more pronounced here, with only ~1'-2' of sediment before
running into the slate-blue massive basal clay. The frontloader broke
down just before noon, and took it out of commission until 8AM the next
morning.
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| Left: Digging in the dirt - we bring in
the heavy machinery, and still no bones, as Warren and David look
on. Right: The crew of the reconnaissance trip to Hyde
Park's Lozier Pond. from left to right: Paul Krohm, Pete Nester,
Dwight Warren, Bridget Rigas, Vanessa Willard, David Levy, Warren
Allmon, Larry Lozier, Sheryl Lozier |
Friday, June 9th-
Warren, Paul Krohn, Bridget Rigas and Vanessa Willard on site.
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Back to The Mastodon Project main
page
Go to the Daily Log during the excavation
in August
|
