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00:00My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:07I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty, hard-working
00:13men and women who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life
00:21possible for the rest of us.
00:23Now get ready to get dirty.
00:26Coming up on Dirty Jobs, high in the frozen north, North Michigan that is, the Sioux Locks
00:33are usually bustling with ships passing between Lake Superior and the Lower Great Lakes.
00:38It's a heck of a day going on here, Bill.
00:39Yeah, it is.
00:40But in the winter, they shut down for some dangerous ice cold.
00:44How do you open that?
00:46We'll defrost all the ice off the space in the logs.
00:49Dirty Jobs.
00:50Okay, here's some debris.
00:52Are we done now?
00:53We got a lot more to go, Mike.
00:54I almost kicked the bucket.
00:55Uh-oh.
01:00And later...
01:01Do I hear voices back now?
01:03Yes, sir.
01:04The crew's down there working.
01:05They're waiting for us.
01:06I enter a tunnel of doom...
01:07What in the world?
01:08...that leads to a cavern of pain.
01:10And there are about a thousand ways to smack yourself open down here.
01:18Oh, God.
01:20Today, I've come north all the way to Sioux St. Marie in Michigan to tell you everything
01:36there is to know about locks.
01:38You know what locks are, right? That's one right there. That's the MacArthur lock in the Sioux lock system. Great Lake System has dozens of locks. And by the way, the Great Lake coastline, all of it, is longer than the East Coast and the West Coast. It's over 1,600 miles. Fascinating.
01:58Anyhow, this lock business, unbelievable the way it works. We're on a gate right now. And when the water over there from Lake Superior comes through and this gate goes down, the water on this side will drain out. You somehow equally balance the water on both sides. So big, giant freighters full of iron ore can come through to keep the country running. Amazing business. Very complicated. And by complicated, I mean, I don't know how it actually works. I do know that it's very, very cold and very dirty, which is why we're here.
02:26About 4,500 cargo vessels pass through the Sioux locks every year. But from January through March, ice forces the locks to close and maintenance and repairs begin.
02:39Located on the St. Mary's River between Canada and the United States, the Sioux locks connect Lake Superior with Lake Huron.
02:46Because Lake Superior sits 23 feet higher than Lake Huron, the locks are designed to raise and lower ships as they move between the lakes,
02:54so they can easily continue on to their destination.
02:58The Sioux locks are some of the busiest in the world. And in the winter, they're some of the coldest.
03:04That area between my eyebrows and my chin, or my face, in other words, can't feel it.
03:12Nice day, fellas.
03:19Hey, Mike.
03:20You're Bill?
03:20Yep, Bill.
03:21Bill, and you're Dennis?
03:22Dennis, yep.
03:23And you're Dennis?
03:23I'm Dennis.
03:24Good. That much of it will be easy.
03:26It's a heck of a day going on here, Bill.
03:27Yeah, it is. Quite a day, yeah.
03:29Typical?
03:30Pretty normal for this time of the year, yeah.
03:32Yeah.
03:33All right.
03:33So, what's down the hole?
03:35We're going to be going down.
03:36We're going to be checking the lateral ports down here for cleaning.
03:39That's where the filling and the emptying of the locks take place at.
03:42I think that's what Fred was telling me.
03:43I don't know if he called it a lateral port, but obviously that's an important part of the whole deal, right?
03:47Right, right.
03:48And, I mean, this is the time of year, it seems, because the locks are closed.
03:53This is the best time of year to do the kind of work we're doing.
03:55This is the only time of the work.
03:56Yeah, the only time to do it.
03:57All right, well, here we go.
04:04Holy smokes.
04:22That is one stuck bobcat.
04:24And that is one cold wall.
04:27That just looks cold, man.
04:29What are we looking at here, exactly?
04:30We're looking at these stop logs that we put in so we can have their lock drainage every year.
04:34Right.
04:35Stop the upper river water from coming in.
04:37How do you open that?
04:38We'll defrost all the ice off the space of the logs, both sides, and we'll pick them up.
04:43Now, what do those doors do over there, then?
04:45Those are the valve doors for our fill-in valves.
04:48Clear the lateral? Is that the job that we're going to do?
04:50There's lateral ports into the floor of the lock chamber where the water rises into the lock to raise the boats.
04:57And they have debris in them, and we have to put on there and clean them out because it restricts the flow of water.
05:03So we're basically shoveling muck.
05:06Basically, yeah.
05:07Is that snow in your mustache?
05:10Yeah.
05:10Please tell me it is.
05:11Frost, yeah.
05:14Because if it ain't.
05:16I don't know.
05:17All right.
05:18So do we all, all of us go?
05:21All of us go.
05:21All of us go.
05:22Unless one of my guys wants to go first, how would that be?
05:26Troy's going to go?
05:26Yeah.
05:27That's good.
05:27You don't weigh anything.
05:28Troy, float over there, would you?
05:31Be careful.
05:32I'm telling you.
05:33Troy rarely, rarely, rarely drowns.
05:40Don't be a hero, Troy.
05:43I forgot to ask Bill how deep it is here.
05:46Probably doesn't matter, though.
05:47You freeze to death before you drown.
05:48Uh-oh.
05:52This ain't good.
05:53No, it's not good.
05:57Now, there doesn't appear to be anything here.
05:59No.
05:59Long step next.
06:01Get lucky.
06:05There you go.
06:06Just go easy.
06:06A little easier if you can.
06:08Yeah.
06:08Oh, no.
06:10Of course, he's carrying our show around his neck.
06:12Oh, it's an auto-gliding, gliding, gliding.
06:21Good, good.
06:24The locks are starting to feel like a series of ever-increasing death traps.
06:29I have a weird feeling we've just survived the easiest one.
06:36Where are we, Bill?
06:38Right now, we're down in one of the main filling tunnels.
06:40We're going to be going down until we hit a couple of laterals down here,
06:44and that's the laterals where we're cleaning.
06:46Right.
06:47Right.
06:47These are the tools we're going to be using.
06:51These picks are going to be used for crossing laterals.
06:54This is a mucking bucket.
06:57So you want to take the whole cart, or we just take the tools?
06:59Well, we'll be taking the whole cart, the buckets, the picks, everything will be going.
07:03I think the terrain just changed there, Bill.
07:12What's happening here?
07:13Well, this is just when the drain runs down.
07:16We're going to be going down the lower chamber of the lock now,
07:18and that's where the land rules are located at.
07:20I think I'm going to turn this around.
07:27Uh-oh.
07:28Oh, crap.
07:44Well, that's one way of doing it.
07:47Yeah.
07:47Yeah, we're all okay.
07:49The cart got away from Bill, but he's okay.
07:53All right.
07:54I guess I should take the cart.
07:56I guess you'll be talking on the radio with Fred.
08:26You can have him raise this valve up.
08:30I guess I'm supposed to tell you to raise this thing up, right?
08:32We'll let the operator raise the valve.
08:35This is actually your main fill-in valve right here.
08:37Right.
08:38So that's how we fill the lock chamber in the summertime for the ships to come through.
08:41The tunnels will actually lead into those lateral lats that come out into the floor basin.
08:46I think my boots have a leak.
08:48Mine, too.
08:49Yeah, it's cold.
08:50Yeah.
08:51You've been here a while, then?
08:5224 years.
08:53You love it?
08:53I like the job.
08:55I do.
08:56Yeah.
08:56That's been an experience.
08:57It's always something new.
08:58You're learning it all the time.
08:59I just learned that getting a cart down an angle like that, front or back, son of a gun.
09:05Yeah, it's not easy.
09:06No, it's not.
09:09It's good so far.
09:10So there's another one like this, straight down that way.
09:13Right at the very end of the other end, that'll be our emptying valve.
09:16So the water's going south-ish.
09:19So this is superior water.
09:21Yeah, we're going to be heading on down until we find out there on the lateral.
09:24We're going to be cleaning.
09:26Got it.
09:27Roger that.
09:28Well, that's not bad luck or anything.
09:35Now, this is where the scaffolding would come in handy.
09:38No, there are no more ramps, but there are a few drops into the abyss.
09:42Now, these are the laterals that we're talking about cleaning out right here.
09:45We're going to be going down to about the third lateral before we go in.
09:48So what's down there that needs cleaning exactly?
09:50You're going to find all kinds of debris down here.
09:52You're going to find rocks, sticks, anything imaginable that came down from the lower of the upper river up there.
10:00Oh, jeez.
10:04This guy wants it to go in the hole, man.
10:06I appreciate that.
10:08Dude, you all right, man?
10:08Looked like you fell on that thing.
10:10Yeah, I'm fine with that.
10:11I'm just trying to solve this.
10:12I was pretty sure that was it for him.
10:15He fell on us.
10:16What do you call it?
10:16A stalag.
10:18A stalag-type mite.
10:20The ones that come up?
10:21Mites come up?
10:21I'm so glad you're alive, dude.
10:24I thought you were nearly impaled on a stalagmite.
10:27Coming up.
10:28Oh, no.
10:29Pretty treacherous.
10:30I finally understand the meaning of hell freezing over.
10:33Not to mention my butt freezing over, my legs, my feet, my hands.
10:38I got a lot of four-letter words running through my mind right now.
10:41And later.
10:42These are males that are leaking a little bit.
10:44It's not a critical leak.
10:4690 feet underground.
10:47The locks spring a leak.
10:49Is that another minor leak?
10:50Yeah, just a minor leak.
10:52That's not good.
11:02All right, then.
11:03So we have barely survived death trap number two.
11:06Icicle stalagmites.
11:07Quite an office you got here, Bill.
11:18Well, this will be number three.
11:19This will be number three.
11:20This is what we're going to be doing, yeah.
11:21We'll get our equipment down in there, and then we'll shoot down inside the lateral.
11:26How far back does it go that way?
11:28This one will go actually all the way over the other side of the lock.
11:30How much of it do we clean?
11:31We go all the way across.
11:33That sounds like a job.
11:34All right.
11:45How's she look?
11:46There's water, and there's ice, and then it looks like some snow, and maybe some crap in the snow, but I can't be sure.
11:52I can't be sure.
11:56Shovel.
12:03Oh, no.
12:05Yeah.
12:06It was bound to happen.
12:08I lost my helmet.
12:09What are you looking at up here?
12:11That's the bottom of the lock floor right there.
12:13You're looking up, too.
12:14Oh, that's kind of cool.
12:15How thick is that ice?
12:16Three, four feet sometimes.
12:18All right.
12:21It's pretty treacherous.
12:23Yeah.
12:25What are we getting into here?
12:27It looks like more ice and debris piled up ahead of us.
12:35So this is just an accumulation of snow?
12:38And debris.
12:39It's too bad.
12:39You just can't hand it straight up.
12:42When the weather permitting and the conditions are right, that's why we have these mush buckets.
12:47We crush them exactly to fit through these lateral slats up here.
12:51Ah.
12:51And we usually have our main crew working on top here, so we fill them up, and we just hand them up through the slats.
12:56You can hand them straight through there.
12:57Exactly.
12:58Yeah.
12:58So you smash your buckets to fit.
13:00That's great.
13:01But no such luck here.
13:03So that's just all snow, it looks like.
13:05Snow, and then we're going to run in.
13:06It looks like a ship's cable right there that he lost when he came into the chamber.
13:10Well, how are we going to get that out of there?
13:12I don't know if we'll be able to chip it out with our picks, or we might even have to apply steam to it.
13:16This is some job you got, man.
13:18This is quite a work here.
13:32Look at that.
13:33Artie Pros.
13:37Have any luck.
13:38I got a lot of four-letter words running through my mind right now.
13:43Luck.
13:43Isn't it?
13:43Nah, nowhere on the list.
13:49Okay, here's some debris.
13:51Can we go now?
13:52You got a lot more to go, Mike.
13:55Put that there.
14:02Made it through.
14:02You ready for a bucket?
14:04Yeah, why don't you walk me a bucket?
14:05I'll toss you little pieces of crap.
14:10Oh, there are my flashlights.
14:11I thought I found flashlights.
14:13You'll be amazed sometimes what you find down here.
14:15Camera, purses, you name it.
14:16Fish, dead animals, fishing lures.
14:19We've even had a boat sucked in down here before.
14:21Yeah, what kind of boat?
14:22A little canoe.
14:24Anybody in it?
14:25No.
14:25That's good.
14:27Frozen sticks.
14:28Every few years, five to ten tons of debris are cleaned out of these laterals, one bucket at a time.
14:38Truly, kind of like a bad dream.
14:40All the wood gets frosty.
14:43And then the frost, of course, turns to ice and sticks to the other pieces of wood.
14:47So all of this is just all jammed together.
14:50It's all attached.
14:51I just don't understand, Bill.
14:54I mean, you're a big, you're a grown man.
14:56How do you, how do you work in a space like this?
14:59Pretty much what you're doing.
15:00Just lay on the side and dig it out.
15:02That's all we can do.
15:03All right.
15:04So, uh, what do you say you hand me another bucket there, Bill?
15:06Okie doke.
15:08Okie doke.
15:08You're one agreeable guy, that Bill.
15:11Frozen feet, frozen legs, frozen face.
15:14Oh, yeah.
15:14That's death trap number three.
15:16Mike, how about we try the steam here and give it a shot?
15:19Maybe it'll loosen it up a lot more and we can get it out a little quicker.
15:22I think it sounds great, man.
15:23I love the idea of steam.
15:25Steam is hot, right?
15:26Exactly.
15:27Real hot.
15:27Yeah, bring it.
15:28Bring it.
15:29Okay.
15:29I'll get ahold of the rest of the guys and get some steam down here in a couple of minutes.
15:32All right.
15:38Dave?
15:39Yeah?
15:39Is he really getting the steam?
15:40Yeah.
15:41Really?
15:42Yeah.
15:43Bill?
15:44He's gone.
15:46Bill, really?
15:46He's gone?
15:47Yeah.
15:48Oh.
15:52I was having second thoughts about waiting for Bill and his steam.
15:57Something kind of queasy in my gut, like maybe he'd never come back and the whole crew would
16:02end up in a block of ice, rediscovered during the spring and fall, something like that.
16:07So I went with my gut.
16:09All right.
16:09You guys want to hang out down here or you want to get out of here?
16:11I don't know.
16:13Yeah, I'm frozen.
16:14I mean, my pants are completely soaked straight through.
16:17I have no idea what happened to Bill, but we loaded up one more tape to shoot our departure.
16:22Maybe we'd find Bill the unfortunate victim of a fall into a lateral crevasse or impaled
16:28on an icicle stalagmite.
16:30Or maybe he's just sipping a hot chocolate somewhere, having completely forgotten about us.
16:34Okay, to be perfectly honest, we waited maybe 10 minutes for Bill.
16:39We should cut him some slack.
16:42Sue locks.
16:44Pick their butts.
16:45Coming up, how does clearing beautiful, fresh snow quickly turn into a tragic, painfully
16:55humiliating accident?
16:57It's a Christmas miracle.
16:59The next morning, the sun was out after a fresh snowfall, and life at the lock seemed just
17:11a little safer.
17:12Can I level with you?
17:13Yesterday, here at the Sue Locks, was absolutely miserable.
17:17Wind blowing 70 miles an hour.
17:19Wind chills well under zero.
17:22Snow coming in sideways.
17:23I haven't been so uncomfortable in years.
17:25It was so bad, in fact, that we've come back for more today.
17:29Of course, now the sun is out.
17:31Still cold, but we have a chance to show off some actual winter work on the outside, which
17:39is what I hope to do right now.
17:41Good.
17:47How's it going?
17:48Good.
17:49You're Jan, right?
17:50Yeah.
17:51Nice to meet you.
17:52Yeah, you too.
17:53What is it today, like 100 below?
17:54Uh, not quite.
17:56That's good.
17:57You're blowing snow?
17:58Yesterday, maybe.
18:00So, what's your area of work here?
18:06Cleanup crew, mainly.
18:07De-icing, snow removal.
18:10No, I mean specifically the area you're responsible for.
18:13Is it...
18:14Well, right now, I'm just doing this trail here.
18:17This is a trail?
18:19Roadway.
18:20We need to get our trucks through, you know, to bring equipment down here.
18:23So, this is for heavy equipment, basically.
18:25Right.
18:25All right.
18:26You know, I'm ashamed to say I've never actually operated a...
18:29Well, I'm not ashamed.
18:31It's just the truth.
18:32I've never done one.
18:33I'm always with the shovel.
18:34Mm-hmm.
18:35This looks much more civilized.
18:36A lot, a lot easier.
18:38How's it work?
18:39Well, you gotta choke it first.
18:41Give it a little gas.
18:42Turn the key.
18:43Just like that?
18:43Just like that.
18:44Thankfully, there's absolutely no comparison between yesterday and today.
19:01Okay.
19:02Follow me in, Doug.
19:03What could possibly be safer and more beautiful than, as Simon and Garfunkel once described,
19:08a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow?
19:11Well, okay.
19:14I mean, except for those little patches of ice.
19:18I had it.
19:20Okay?
19:21Yeah.
19:22Yeah.
19:24I'm in the back issue.
19:26I don't know if the camera's okay, though.
19:27The camera's not okay.
19:28Oh, man.
19:29What's that?
19:30What'd you do?
19:31That looks like a $400 polarizer.
19:33Oh, that one may have cracked a little.
19:36I didn't see you go down that time.
19:37What'd you do?
19:38Butt back?
19:39I think I got it.
19:40Butt right on the one where it just compresses the spine.
19:43Oh, the coccyx.
19:45Yeah.
19:45Oh, man.
19:46Yeah.
19:48That is annoying.
19:49That doesn't look good.
19:51Don't do that.
19:52What happens if I do that?
19:53Scratch the front.
19:54Is that expensive, too?
19:56Yeah, very.
19:57Doug always does it the first time of the day.
19:59Not always.
20:00It's the second time I've done it in four years.
20:02Welcome to the show, Janet.
20:03This is what we do.
20:05We start things off usually with breaking a $40,000, $50,000 device.
20:10That's all.
20:11Oh, yeah.
20:12What do you see what I do with that thing?
20:13This is the apparel you get.
20:14Yeah, that's ice.
20:15Oh, it's slicker and how it's thawing.
20:16Yeah, that's pure ice.
20:17Well, yeah.
20:17Should we talk safety equipment here?
20:19Like, you know.
20:20A little late for that, Janet.
20:21Griffies.
20:22A little late for the safety.
20:23Bikes that we don't have.
20:25Now, let me see your shoes.
20:26What do you got there?
20:26Thank you for the Army Corps for letting us know.
20:28Oh, look at that.
20:28That's nice.
20:29Yeah.
20:29That's good.
20:30You have super good traction there.
20:31Doug, what do you have on yours?
20:32Just out of curiosity.
20:33Oh, you went with ice skates, did you?
20:35Sticky rubber.
20:36That's good.
20:36Sticks to anything except for ice.
20:38His perspective is going to be great.
20:41What happened?
20:41Did the camera go up?
20:43I have no idea.
20:44I just went back on my ass.
20:45He went this way.
20:46The camera went this way.
20:48Just for purposes of clarification, let's take a look at the incident from the point of view of Doug's
20:53destroyed camera.
20:54This is not meant to humiliate or embarrass Doug in any way.
21:00It's not funny.
21:02I mean, are you hurt?
21:03No.
21:03Okay, it's funny.
21:04Oh, trust me.
21:04No, no, it's funny.
21:06It's funny.
21:07If it is indeed funny, I think it's important to find out exactly how many ways it is funny.
21:12Again, this is not meant to humiliate or embarrass Doug in any way.
21:23I feel bad that we might have inadvertently made Doug feel humiliated or embarrassed, so
21:35maybe a more sophisticated look at the incident will help make up for it.
21:39All right.
21:47I guess the only thing to do is just kind of reboot, pretend the last minute or two didn't
21:51happen.
22:02Clearing snow is not as fun as watching Doug fall, but it is a job, and it's got to be done.
22:06All I wanted to do was blow some snow.
22:11How that wound up being a five-minute scene.
22:17It's a Christmas miracle.
22:21Coming up.
22:22Just where you put the bad employees?
22:24That's a good place for them.
22:25It's not Dante's Inferno.
22:27What in the world?
22:28It's more like Dante's toilet.
22:30And later.
22:31It's always a disturbing sound.
22:34Drilling on thin ice is like shooting a hole in the bottom of your boat.
22:38Go!
22:49Hey, Charlie.
22:50Hey.
22:51How you doing?
22:51I'm good.
22:52I'm Mike.
22:52What you doing?
22:53I'm just opening up this check valve and stuff.
22:56So when we fire up the pump there, this will keep the water, the river water, from coming
23:00back in.
23:01Let me back up even further.
23:02Where exactly am I?
23:04We call it the deep well.
23:05These pumps are used for dewatering lock.
23:09Your little horse.
23:09What happened?
23:10My daughter bought us tickets for a concert there.
23:12Fleetwood Mac there played at the Palace at Auburn Hill.
23:14Hey, that's Stevie Nicks that's still holding together.
23:16Oh, she certainly is.
23:17She is wonderful.
23:18She was at an excellent concert.
23:19So this building and its relationship to the whole working of the lock, explain to
23:26me its significance.
23:27Well, this building here, like I say, these are the dewatering pumps.
23:31When we dewater a lock, that means we have to pump all the excess water out of them and
23:36stuff.
23:36And they have pipes and stuff that come into this area here.
23:39And these pumps will actually pump out the excess.
23:42So you're checking water levels?
23:43Well, no, we're going to open this valve so our water does not run back in from the
23:49river.
23:50You want to give me a hand?
23:50Yeah, I'll give you a hand.
23:55There's three 30-inch pumps and there's one 12-inch pump.
24:00Maintenance pump, we call it.
24:01Right.
24:02And how much room is below us?
24:05All together.
24:06This deep well is 90 feet, 96 feet.
24:10I mean, I would think if you're dewatering then, does this area below us fill with water?
24:15Yes, it does.
24:16We light up our pumps here and, you know, pumps it out.
24:21Okay, Mike, I think we got her.
24:22Want to fire this pump up?
24:24What's it called?
24:24You're going to turn this pump?
24:25Fire this pump up?
24:26You must have been screaming for Stevie Nicks like crazy.
24:29Yes, I was.
24:30She was worth it.
24:31Excellent.
24:32I'm sure it's not the first time she's heard that.
24:35Okay, yeah, let's do that.
24:36Let's do that.
24:37She's come.
24:40This is our switch for our 12-inch pump.
24:42I'll let you fire it up.
24:43There you go.
24:44You got her.
24:46Now we can go over here to meter over here and check our water level.
24:49All right, great.
24:52It's a new digital meter we just placed this year.
24:54Just, you know, makes it a lot easier for readers.
24:57So, hey, we're doing good.
24:581.3 feet.
24:59We're going down to 1.3 feet of water.
25:00That's what we...
25:01Oh, that's not bad.
25:02All right, what's all this?
25:04These are...
25:05This is a lot.
25:06These are the pipes and stuff that are coming into this deep well.
25:09This is a pole lock deep well, the one we'll be going over to.
25:12Right.
25:13And then over here, you got the pole lock, the bottom of the pole lock.
25:16And over here is where we're going down.
25:19This is a Davis deep well.
25:20Okay.
25:21After you.
25:21Okay, you're ready.
25:27Watch your head, Mike.
25:28Yep.
25:28Holy smokes.
25:45Yeah, water level's down pretty good.
25:46So we're looking pretty good, Mike.
25:48So all this is underwater?
25:49Yes, sir.
25:50It's underwater right to the top of the stairs, sir.
25:53Is that why these are wooden?
25:55Yes, sir.
25:55And everything here, that's Great Lake bottom?
26:00Yes, sir.
26:01So down there, what's the problem?
26:04These are valves that are leaking a little bit.
26:06It's not a critical leak.
26:08These valves are for the Davis lock and the Saban lock.
26:12So when we do water those locks, we open up these valves.
26:15So right now, that's a little bit of Lake Superior coming in?
26:18Well, yeah, that's a little bit of Lake Superior coming in.
26:20Yeah, it's a little bit of water.
26:21It's not a problem.
26:22What is the problem?
26:24We got some mucking problems here.
26:26We got a lot of sand and stone and wood that flows into these areas and stuff, and we have
26:31to muck them out.
26:32So you basically invited me here to shovel stuff.
26:34Well, yeah, we have a tunnel there we have to get into, and we have to shovel up some mucking
26:39material.
26:41Lead on.
26:42Yes, sir.
26:44Watch yourself going down the ladder, Mike.
26:46Yep.
26:47We ran out of steps.
26:50All right.
26:57What in the world?
26:58This is our crossover tunnel.
27:00This is the area we're going to be going into muck.
27:02That's a tunnel that goes over to another...
27:05Yes, sir.
27:06It goes to the pole lock, deep well.
27:07And what's this exactly?
27:09That's a pump.
27:10That's a 30-inch pump for dewatering the lock.
27:12So what is it we got to muck out?
27:14Stuck back here?
27:15We got material like this we're going to have to muck.
27:17So I got my crew working on the end there, so we'll just head into the tunnel and hook
27:22up with my crew and start working.
27:24Do I hear voices back there?
27:25Yes, sir.
27:26The crew's down there working.
27:27They're waiting for us.
27:28The crew's waiting for us.
27:29Yes, sir.
27:30Hate to make the crew wait.
27:33All right.
27:34How far back's it go?
27:36I don't know, I'm sure.
27:37A couple hundred feet or so.
27:39You got to watch your head up here, Mike, because we got pipes, you know, for truiting
27:44and stuff, so you have to watch yourself.
27:46Yeah, that's just the kind of thing I'd walk into.
27:48Yeah, I'd walk them through several different times.
27:50It really gets your attention.
27:51Yeah, this is the kind of thing running through here in the dark to stop you in a hurry.
27:54Yeah.
27:54Definitely gets your attention.
27:56Watch the step right there.
27:58Right.
27:59Uh-oh.
27:59Two empty shovels.
28:01Never a good sign.
28:02Is this your crew down here, truck?
28:03Yes, sir.
28:04Hey, how you doing?
28:07How's it going, man?
28:08Excellent, Mike.
28:09Whoa!
28:09Hey, careful, Mike.
28:10Mike, I'm okay.
28:11Okay.
28:13We got a metal rod sticking out right there.
28:15That's this fish fork.
28:17Trying to keep flipping over.
28:19And there are about a thousand ways to smash yourself open down here.
28:23A lot.
28:24All right, so this is a smaller version of what we just left?
28:28Yes, sir.
28:28And this would be the stuff they're mucking out?
28:30Yes, sir.
28:31Is this where you put the bad employees?
28:32Yeah, that's a good place for them.
28:36Man.
28:36This is a cage for a 30-inch pump.
28:39This is a 30-inch pump.
28:40This is another 30-inch pump here.
28:42Our maintenance pump is right behind us here.
28:44That's a 14-inch pump.
28:46That's the pump that's running right now.
28:48Why does it need a cage?
28:50Deep debris, big debris, lumber and stuff like that.
28:54So all those rocks and everything else we were walking over, that all washed in at some
28:58point?
28:58Yes, sir.
28:58That's all coming in from the upper lake.
29:00And this is the bell for the MacArthur Lock.
29:03That's just the excess water that we have to let run in here.
29:08If we didn't let this water run in, the MacArthur Lock would start, you know.
29:11It would start filling up.
29:12The guys would start yelling at us.
29:14What's that over there?
29:15More of the same?
29:16Yes, sir.
29:16Well, you've got a hole there, Mike, so watch your step.
29:22That's the bell for the prologue, so...
29:24Is that another minor leak?
29:26Yeah, just a minor leak.
29:27Nothing to worry about.
29:29All right, so if I was inclined to help out down here with the crew, would that be in
29:33the tunnel?
29:33Yes, sir.
29:34We'll have you in the tunnel.
29:35Coming up...
29:36So what's the official name of the job?
29:37We are the Mucky Crew.
29:39This is a mucker.
29:40When you're a mucker.
29:41It's like a coal mine without coal.
29:43You've really got to like what you do.
29:44One bucket at a time.
29:46Yes, sir.
29:46Day after day.
29:47Week after week.
29:49And later.
29:50So is this thing complicated to drive?
29:52Yeah, it is.
29:53It is?
29:53How hard can it be?
29:55I tackle a temperamental mucker bucket.
30:09It's got to hoist up that other bucket before we can go in there.
30:14All right, let's try it there, Mike.
30:21Yeah, there you go.
30:23That looks like a good spot.
30:24Another pile of debris.
30:28It's not that complicated at this point, really.
30:30Now, when those pumps are down, I mean, how high does the water get when you still work?
30:43Well, we've been in water here up to our chest.
30:46You've been shoveling this out and water this deep?
30:49Well, it's difficult to do, but...
30:50So that little stream we saw coming in there was carrying rocks, wood, all of it.
30:56A lot of material coming in.
30:57And if you didn't clean it out, of course, it would just spill the whole thing.
30:59Well, that's the thing.
31:02That'd be bad.
31:03It's like a coal mine without the coal.
31:14So what's the official name of the job?
31:17We are the mucking crew.
31:19This is a mucker.
31:21Okay, Mike.
31:30All right.
31:31Here, I'll let you pull the bag and I'll push.
31:35Hey, you're all right.
31:42Okay, watch yourself on the end.
31:44Nice and easy.
31:47Okay.
31:48You got it.
31:49Nice job.
31:51All right.
31:52Okay.
31:53Up on the load.
31:58So literally, one bucket at a time.
32:02Yes, sir.
32:03Day after day.
32:05Week after week.
32:07Job security.
32:08If there was a better way, I'd say it'd be fine, but they haven't followed the way.
32:14So at this point, there's not much to do except wait for the bucket to come back down.
32:16Yes, sir.
32:17We'll hook this one back up, bring her up, and start all over again.
32:20Say you got a built-in break, anyway.
32:27I probably could have got this one a little fuller, but it's close.
32:30Charlie, where exactly does all this go?
32:34We've got a pile of stuff.
32:35I'll show you where we dump it.
32:37Then in the spring of the year, we send to Harvey, to Craybarge Harvey, to pick up this
32:41material.
32:42Then it dumps all sorts of material on the whole, you know, dump site.
32:46So you basically got a big pile of crap up there.
32:48Oh, yes.
32:48It was a nice pile.
32:49Can I get a look at that?
32:50Oh, yes, sir.
32:51Please.
32:52All right.
32:52And just like that, here we are.
32:57About, what is this, 90 feet or so up?
33:0090 feet.
33:01The debris gets dumped in this thing.
33:02What's this called?
33:03It's a Morrison buggy.
33:04It's a motorized buggy.
33:06We'll fill it up, and we'll take it out to the dump site.
33:09And you are?
33:10Shane.
33:11Shane, Mike.
33:12How are you?
33:13You operate the, uh, what is this, the winch?
33:16Winch, yeah.
33:17I don't think I've done this before.
33:19You should advise them.
33:21They've already been advised.
33:23Hey, guys, we're coming up on it.
33:25You clear?
33:26Roger that.
33:27Slow and steady or just push it up there?
33:29Slow and steady at first.
33:30You'll feel a lot of tension on it.
33:32It'll start kind of jerking a little bit.
33:38Yep, you got the load now.
33:40A little bit more.
33:41What do you reckon it weighs?
33:42A couple hundred pounds.
33:43You ever have one get away from you?
33:45Yes.
33:46We had it about three-quarters of the way up,
33:48and somehow the hooks come undone, and down she went.
33:52Could have smashed stuff up on the way down?
33:54We had a sheet of plywood down there, three-quarter-inch plywood.
33:57It took the clean out.
33:59Important to keep your fingers out of there, right?
34:00Oh, yeah.
34:01Yeah, that'd be bad.
34:02Yeah, you speed it up.
34:12Stop.
34:14Set the brake.
34:15Hey, let's switch places.
34:16Okay.
34:17Oh, okay.
34:19I got to say, I did it all, Charlie.
34:21Yes, sir.
34:22Now we'll let her flop a little flop over.
34:24Okay, up easy.
34:28Okay, hold it.
34:32Up a little more.
34:33Hold it there.
34:34Hold it.
34:34Okay, down that'll load.
34:45All right.
34:46Yes, sir.
34:47So is this thing complicated to drive?
34:49Yeah, it is.
34:49It is?
34:50How hard can it be?
34:51Well, the steering is official.
34:54Easy.
34:55This is your clutch.
34:56Nice and easy.
34:57You can just hang out to it a little bit.
34:59Nice and easy.
35:00You'll be backing out of here.
35:01All right, up, Charlie.
35:20All right, that's good.
35:21Right there.
35:22There you go.
35:23Hey, good job.
35:24Return.
35:25There you go.
35:26Hey, nice job, Mike.
35:29Morrison, buggy.
35:31Cross that one off the list.
35:33Coming up.
35:35When you're drilling with the power auger.
35:37Make sure you don't let go of that handle.
35:39Got it.
35:39It's easy to forget the helpful hints.
35:42Make sure you don't let go of that handle.
35:44Got it.
35:53The place is huge.
35:54I mean, you just cruise around on these electric carts all day for two days.
35:59That's what we've been doing.
36:00Going from one little hideous place to another little hideous place to shoot one other rotten
36:06little task and then deal with some idiot who just happens to be in my crew.
36:11We're going out on the ice now to drill a hole, run some steam, and apparently melt like spirit.
36:16Nice to see you again.
36:28You too.
36:29What are you doing?
36:30Well, we're going to be punching some holes in the ice, and we're going to put some airlines
36:34down.
36:34The airlines, what it's going to do, it's going to take the warm water from the bottom of
36:38the lake here, bring it to the surface, and it'll melt all this ice away from our stop
36:41logs.
36:43Warm water comes up from under the ice.
36:45Right.
36:46Melts the ice on the other side of your stop logs?
36:48No.
36:49Actually, it'll melt all this ice away from this side of the stop logs, Mike.
36:52Where are the stop logs exactly?
36:54The stop logs are just to hold back the upper lake water from coming in so we can drain the
36:59chambers of the locks, get them prepped for the winter work.
37:02And where are they, though?
37:03These are right here.
37:04These are the black bulkhead walls right here.
37:07There's five of them.
37:07They weigh 23 tons apiece.
37:09How deep is this ice?
37:10Right now, I'm just about down to almost four feet, and I'm not even hitting close to bottom,
37:14I don't think.
37:15So what we do is we just keep finding holes until we actually can get the ice auger all
37:19the way down through the ice and get our airlines in.
37:21So the airlines that go in pump warm air?
37:24Pump the warm water from the bottom of the lake up to the top, and it melts the ice out.
37:30Ingenious, of course, because the water down there is much warmer, obviously.
37:32Right, much warmer.
37:34All right.
37:34You want to keep working this one or start a new one?
37:37We can start a new one, I think.
37:38I don't think we're going to have too much luck right here.
37:39Like I say, I'm just...
37:40It looks like you're pretty much out of auger.
37:42Yeah.
37:45Where do you suggest we try?
37:47I would try out a little further.
37:48Try to get away from the stop logs more.
37:51Any spot in here is pretty good.
37:54That's always a disturbing sound.
37:56Actually, you're going to find several layers of ice.
37:59You'll find like a layer of ice, water, until you hit the blue ice, then it'll be solid
38:03blue ice down to the bottom, you know.
38:06So you think here is good?
38:07Yeah, yeah.
38:08We move usually six feet back at a time until we can find the right depth.
38:14Just apply a little bit of a pressure, hang on tight, it'll spin you around.
38:18Got it.
38:19Make sure you don't let go of that handle.
38:43Do you have any dynamite?
38:49Dynamite?
38:49Yeah, that would be effective, but I don't think it'd work here.
38:53No.
38:54Yeah.
38:54I just meant for me personally.
38:55Oh, okay.
38:56I don't understand why that's not going all the way down through there for you.
39:03It's like a piece of iron down there.
39:04Right.
39:05Well, that bottom ice there, that's a blue hard ice that sometimes, that's why we just
39:09got to keep moving.
39:11Even the saw won't cut right through it.
39:13You want to try one more or do you want to?
39:14No, it's gone.
39:15Okay.
39:16Yeah, sure.
39:16We'll try another one.
39:17I felt obligated to cut another hole with Bill.
39:20Probably residual guilt from not waiting for him in the lateral yesterday.
39:24All right, maybe we'll have a little bit of luck right here, I hope.
39:42You're through.
39:45Hot.
39:46Damn, that's good.
39:47That's nice, huh?
39:48That's good.
39:48That's nice.
39:49Now we jam a hose in there.
39:51Exactly.
39:52Yeah.
39:52This one here with the weight on it.
39:55Right.
39:57Is this the one I just drilled?
39:59Yeah.
39:59Yeah.
40:01Give me some more line.
40:04Look at that.
40:04Black hose and red hose.
40:06Yep, all set.
40:07All good?
40:08Where do you turn it on?
40:09I got a man up there who's going to be turning it on for us.
40:11I think he's all set.
40:12We can turn it on right here too, Mike.
40:14You want to do her?
40:16No, go ahead and turn it on.
40:17I don't care anymore.
40:18You can hear it right here.
40:23There's probably pressure cracks along here and you're going to hear the air coming up
40:26everywhere.
40:29That's cool.
40:29The idea is just to flood the top of this with water from the bottom.
40:34Right.
40:34And how long will this go on?
40:36This will probably take at least a week.
40:38We'll probably have 13 hoses laying out here on the ice with different holes.
40:42In about a week's time, all this ice will be gone within this range right here.
40:46What about that frozen waterfall?
40:48How do you deal with that?
40:49That's done with the steam tees and pipes.
40:51Steam tees?
40:52Steam tees and pipes.
40:53So yesterday, the whole steam thing was a tease.
40:55Yeah.
40:56All right.
40:56But today, maybe we...
40:57Today, we do have it ready for you so we don't leave you hanging in the dark.
41:01I'm going to stay with you this time.
41:02All right.
41:02All right.
41:03All right.
41:07All right.
41:08So that's right where we were yesterday.
41:11Yesterday, right.
41:12So the job is to melt the waterfall.
41:14Exactly.
41:15Clear the ice away from the waterfall.
41:17How does this work?
41:18That's a steam tee.
41:20You'll be turning it around.
41:21You'll be sending it down and the steam will come blasting out of all these little holes we
41:24have drilled in here.
41:25Can you lower it over the top?
41:26Does it matter?
41:26It doesn't really matter, no.
41:28Can someone flip the switch?
41:29Oh, we'll just give them a holler.
41:30That's Gary, yeah.
41:31All right, Gary.
41:33You'll feel it vibrating.
41:34A little vibration.
41:35A little water.
41:36I see water.
41:37And a few steam.
41:40This is what you were going to bring me yesterday.
41:43Exactly.
41:44Look at that.
41:44Yeah.
41:45It was worth the wait.
41:47And it's getting hot.
41:48And it gets real hot.
41:54How far down do you take her?
41:55Take her right down, Mike.
41:56We got her tied out there until she stops.
41:59All the way down until we get to the end of our rope period.
42:02That's good right there.
42:03That's it.
42:03I guess that's as far as she goes.
42:05That's where she'll steam.
42:07So how long, roughly, will it take to melt this whole waterfall?
42:10We could have this done within a week easy.
42:13A week?
42:13A week.
42:15I don't know how to break it to you, but I've already stayed roughly 100% longer than I
42:18planned to.
42:19So I think this time I'm just going to say goodbye.
42:21All right.
42:22I want to thank you for your hospitality.
42:24Not a problem.
42:24Please, thank the whole crew for me as well.
42:27Thanks, Gare.
42:28Nice meeting you.
42:30Pass it around if anybody cares.
42:32I'm leaving.
42:33You want me to beg?
42:40You want me to fall on my knees and beg?
42:42Fine.
42:43Please.
42:44If you have a dirty job or know somebody who does, I'm begging you.
42:48Go to discovery.com forward slash dirty job.
42:51Sometime like, oh, I don't know, now and tell us all about it.
42:55I'd be grateful.
42:56In fact, I'll give you a big round of applause.
43:00Does this still have the receivers on it?
43:01Because what I was going to say, we only have, we're kind of out of the long end of the
43:04large, but we could take the hops and go to another one of the cameras, but I think
43:09that's a better idea.
43:10What is?
43:11Can you go grab the other body?
43:14We have to buy the locks, babe.
43:16Buy locks.
43:19Thanks for having us.
43:23I'm king of the world.
43:26I'm king of the world.
43:28I'm king of the world.
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