This the type of announcement we never got for 1000M

no more than 10 bananas are permitted to gather in any one place. A groundbreaking would be considered an essential banana duty, however

^Governor recently announced that there is an exemption on the 10 banana limit for groundbreakings of towers 800' tall or greater. Though, they do ask that all bananas remain at least 6 bananas apart.

Just wash your peels often and everyone will be fine.

too funny guys

Site Prep
 

April 14

Chicago | Sales Force Tower by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

Crunching up the old footing
Chicago | Sales Force Tower by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

a smaller version of the footing that is now made with a belling rig
Chicago | Sales Force Tower by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

A banana per 100 feet of building height is a good rule, then maybe two after the 1000' mark.

Or better yet, someone will have to devise an algorithm to make sure the exact right number of bananas show up.

Any chance of unearthing some historical artifacts at this site? Not sure what could possibly remain, but surely there are bits and pieces of Chicago's earliest history in that soil somewhere. I'm not sure if the excavator operators are trained to keep their eyes open for certain clues, but they are surely aware they would be the first to stumble upon an unexpected find.

What they dig up here will be
1) old pine pile, sharpened pine trees driven into the mud, some over a century ago. The airless mu preserves them very well.
2) possibly old cofferdam - layers of planks overlapped to keep the shore from sliding into the river.
3) old foundations - like the piers dug up in the photos from today.
4) ---- possibly ---- part of the old underground freight system.

Nothing much more than that - the locals wouldn't have lived here before the Europeans, and anything that was there would have been wiped when the old warehouses were built.

(corrections to this greatly appreciated).

Didn't they find an old late 1800's anchor from a ship at the spire site. I would hope they had someone at least looking through the stuff.

I have a bunch of stuff from different building's I've worked. Marble from the original rookery lobby, face of a counterweight from the original fire escape of the j.w. marriot. Bricks and what not from other old buildings. The cool thing about alot of the original scrapers that have inside the bank volts downstairs keep their original light fixtures, banisters, marble and other things they are willing to get rid of if you talk to the right people.

That was at a site a few blocks West of the spire site - that entire area (Streeterville) is land fill. This is not.

They found that while digging the parking garage under what is now Bennett Park. This had to have been 10-12 years ago.

TY - I had thought it was found at 600 N Fairbanks.

That’s good stuff! I have a 7’ tall I-beam footing from the SE corner of the old Chicago Merc Building at Franklin and Washington. I’m growing ivy on it in my back yard.

I've dreamed about exploring Calumet in an attempt to find the grave of the old Stock Exchange. There are legends about there at one point being entire ornate Sullivan stone columns protruding from the swamp somewhere out there. Surely such artifacts would have enough value at auction to justify salvage operations if you could locate them. Think of it this way: that entire building is out in Lake Calumet somewhere, you just need to track down its final resting place to score some sweet relics...

I've actually thought about bringing down my little alumacraft 8 horse to do some prospecting down there this summer.

^That's awesome. Where did you hear about its final resting place? I can't find
any articles on the subject.

If you do go searching Lake Calumet, be prepared to see a few dead bodies. That area is a mob favorite for "problem solving" by way of cement shoes.

Wolf and Powderhorn Lakes were the primary dumping areas.

Did they put any sheet piles along the river before they laid the rocks along the shore or does that still need to be done?

April 19

Site Prep underway

Chicago | Sales Point Tower by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

Chicago | Sales Force Tower by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

Red rolling crane built and onsite.