The dredge was sitting about 25 ft off the pier a long line tethered to it and the bollards on the pier the line wrapped about a sturdy winch The channel in question as a " dead " channel that had at one time lead into a small series of docks for older wooden ships but had been sealed off by the placement of a road and draw bridge when the channel had been diverted and fed by another. The crew broke from lunch and the operator of the boom and bucket climbed into his a small shack like building that housed all the controls to work the boom & bucket. With a loud growl and a cloud of black diesel smoke the boom was started, the bucket was raised, swing over the side and dropped freely into the murky waters of the channel only to be pulled up a few minutes later to much growling of the motor, the boom shaking as the bucket was pulled from the bottom, broke the surface, its muddy cargo and water sluicing from it as it was swung over the silt barge, the buckets jaws opened and the slimy cargo dropped with a very distinctive " plop " into the hold of the barge. The process was repeated several more times and each time it did the barge sank lower and lower until her sides were awash. The tug then gave a toot, growled into action backing away from the dredge out into more open water then turned and headed down the eastern gap and a good 5 miles out into the lake to drop its smelly, gray cargo into a greater depth only to return sometime later and to repeat the process all over again. It was an interesting shoot, interesting too see the big dredge in action as mostly she sits tucked away in a safe channel seemingly doing nothing, but today and for the next few days she would earn her keep well................thanks for the peek