Folks rave about hydraulic dredges on the Mississippi but I saw a cable rig outshine one by the St. Louis riverfront

Everyone I work with swears by hydraulic dredges for big river jobs, but I was down by the St. Louis riverfront last month watching a cable operated rig chew through a silted up slip near the grain elevators. The hydraulic dredge next to it kept bogging down on the same mixed debris of old tires and loose rock. That cable rig pulled out 22 tons in one shift without a single clog. Maybe hydraulics are smoother on pure sand, but for nasty urban river work I think cables have a place. Anyone else seen a cable rig handle rough stuff better than the popular choice?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnh821mo ago

Cable rigs get overlooked too much these days. Hydraulics are fine on clean sand but throw in trash and they choke up every time. Watched a cable bucket grab a whole car tire from the bottom and set it on the bank no problem. That same spot would have shut a hydraulic dredge down for an hour. Cables are slower on the clock but they don't stop for junk. For riverfront cleanup especially I'd take that trade off any day.

henderson.kim1mo ago

Oh man, that brings back a story my buddy Tom told me. He works for a small outfit that does riverfront cleanups and they had a cable rig pulling old dock lines and a sofa out of a slip near Baton Rouge. The hydraulic crew next to them spent half the day swapping out their pump impeller because it kept getting wrapped in fishing nets. Tom's cable bucket just grabbed the whole mess and put it on the barge in one scoop. He said the only thing hydraulics had was speed, but cables had reliability in that trashy water.