The Dirt from Cashman

The Senate passed a two year, $109 billion transportation bill today in a bipartisan 74-22 vote. The bill, which would keep aid flowing to thousands of construction projects while repairing the nation’s aging transportation infrastructure, will now go to the House for approval.Read Construction Equipment Guide’s article for full details and the industry’s reaction…

We’re at a critical point in the highway debate on Capitol Hill. AED has declare today Equipment Industry Action Day to keep the reauthorization process moving forward and flood congressional offices with e-mails and calls from around the country. Let your reps know that you support the highway bill today!

Join Equipment Industry Action Day and Help AED Keep the Highway Bill On Track!

We’re at a critical point in the highway debate on Capitol Hill. AED has declared Monday, March 5, Equipment Industry Action Day to keep the reauthorization process moving forward and flood congressional offices with e-mails and calls from around the country.

An all-important procedural vote in the Senate on Tuesday (March 6) will determine whether and when we’ll have a final vote on the Senate’s reauthorization package. In the House, GOP leaders are still working to develop a highway and transit bill that can win the 218 votes needed to pass. All the while, the clock is running down on the most recent short-term program extension, which expires on March 31.

What’s at stake in the highway debate?

• $40 billion per year in investment critical to the nation’s economic future
• Nearly 1.5 million jobs
• And $2.4 billion in annual equipment sales, rental, and product support

That’s why enacting a new, multiyear bill to restore certainty to federal infrastructure programs is AED’s top priority.

AED is pulling out all the stops in an effort to keep the highway process moving forward. Our lobbying team is working closely with allied groups representing the full spectrum of the construction industry, labor, and the broader business community.

But we need to do even more. That’s why everyone’s participation is needed on AED’s Equipment Industry Action Day today!

Our goal is simple: Flood House and Senate offices with e-mails and calls from every corner of the country and every tier of the equipment industry. Only you can help us break the partisan morass and build the critical political momentum to finish the job.

Have you hugged one of our brave vets today? Try it out… like Bette Rose Bowers, “the Hug Lady,” has been doing for more than five years. As part of the Georgia USO, she waits for troops coming home in the Atlanta airport to give them a warm welcome in appreciation of their service.

Hug & thank all the veterans in your life for their bravery!

Maintenance & Engineering Division of National Park Service Maintains the Lake Mead National Recreation Area Created by Hoover Dam

Once, there was no such thing as Lake Mead… there was nothing but the small Mormon town of St. Thomas on the shores of the Colorado River in that area. It was a region of unpredictable, catastrophic flooding and little in the way of major cities. Yet there had always been keen interest in Boulder Canyon and Black Canyon as possible sites for a dam that would prevent destructive flooding, assist in irrigation, and create electric power. However, private sector companies could not find a way to recover the costs of such an endeavor in the late 1800s. Finally, the idea for a dam on the Colorado River was deemed a federal matter because of the number of states it ran through before terminating in Mexico. California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming formed an interstate compact and agreed to shared water rights, and the Boulder Canyon Project Act was then proposed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It received Congressional approval in late 1928… and the Boulder Canyon Project was in motion.

The Project that would build the Boulder (later Hoover) Dam immediately brought a significant benefit to Nevada and Arizona – jobs. Thousands of workers were required to construct one of the largest concrete arch-gravity dams in the world, and their needs contributed to the growth of many other businesses in the area. Boulder City was created to house the workers. Cashman Equipment, Nevada’s Caterpillar dealership, was founded when Big Jim Cashman sold the project six Model 60 tractors in 1931. As the largest order Cat had ever filled at that time, Big Jim was given the sales and service contracts to sell Caterpillar equipment in our area… and 80 years later, the company is still selling Cat machines out on the Colorado River.

When the Hoover Dam was finished, it initiated more than Cashman Equipment’s Caterpillar dealership, electric power generation, and Boulder City; it also fostered the creation of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NRA) – 1.5 million acres dedicated to boating, kayaking, camping, hiking, biking, and more. The beautiful areas around Lake Mead and Lake Mohave provide an escape from the searing desert heat for Southern Nevada and nearby residents. However, keeping such a large park beautiful and functional is not always easy.

“The logistics of covering our area are the biggest challenge,” said Stan Gloyne, a Truck Driver for the Lake Mead NRA. Responsible for more than 800 miles of road, the roads and trails crew of Lake Mead NRA’s maintenance and engineering division is constantly on the go to grade and repair asphalt, gravel, and dirt roadways; maintain and transport portable lavatories for campers and hikers; and lift anchors, clean launch ramps, and move concrete barricades at beach areas. However, those responsibilities aren’t in just one or two locations – all these duties must be done for the 17 beaches along 550 miles of shoreline for Lake Mead and Lake Mohave.

The vastness of their territory means that Gloyne and co-workers Ginger Moore (Truck Driver III) and Steve Stone (General Operator) are rarely at the Lake Mead NRA maintenance headquarters on Katzenbach Drive in Boulder City, Nevada. They’re in their trucks, heading out to areas in need of repair. Not only are they transporting themselves and a camping trailer for overnight stays in remote locations, they’re taking all the equipment and fuel they need with them. Once they’ve traveled 83 miles out to a location like Gregg’s Hideout (an isolated camping area best found by water), it’s completely impractical to return to home-base in the same day. Gloyne and Stone frequently camp out while Moore ferries fuel, parts and supplies to the remote areas. Once the roads and trails crew is out in the park, there aren’t convenient refueling areas… actually, there aren’t any. Unsurprisingly, there are not any repair shops out there either, which is a huge factor to take in to account when purchasing equipment to maintain the roads, beaches, hiking, and camping areas across the Lake Mead NRA. It’s one reason Gloyne always hopes that the National Park Service purchases Caterpillar machines. As a governmental entity, a formal bid procedure must be observed with every purchase, ensuring that tax dollars are spent in a responsible manner. Cashman Equipment has been able to win those bids by providing the government with the best value.

“It’s vital to have equipment you can rely on,” Gloyne stated. “When you’re so far away from civilization, you can’t be worried about your machine breaking down and then not getting your job done. I never have had to worry about that with Caterpillar machines.” Currently, there are more than 14 pieces of Caterpillar equipment working out at Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. They have Cat 14H, 140G, and 140M Motor Graders to take care of the road ways, four Cat 416 Backhoe Loaders for filling material on roads and beaches, a Cat 302.5 Mini Excavator for moving lavatories, and a new Cat 430E Integrated Toolcarrier Backhoe Loader with a broom attachment for cleaning the landing areas at the beaches.

This year, Gloyne, Stone, and Moore are running their equipment double time out there. While the rising of Lake Mead is an undisputed godsend for the drought-plagued area, it has caused an enormous amount of unplanned maintenance throughout Lake Mead NRA. “We have to rebuild whole beaches,” Stone explained. “The water is steadily rising at three feet a month, which means that 30 feet of beach is disappearing back into the lake every four weeks. We have to clear the area of willows, salt cedars, and any other vegetation.” Stone says that the current level of the lake, 1,113 feet above sea level (ABS), will continue to rise another 30 feet by February to reach 1,141 feet ABS.

“Right now, we’re racing the lake,” Stone clarified. “With all that water coming down from the mountains, we’re working to clear these beaches as quickly as possible, but we’re only about ¼ done.” And, unfortunately, removing the hardy desert vegetation from the beach vicinity is no easy task. The area is completely soaked with water first to help loosen the soil, then a Cat 140M or 140G Motor Grader comes through to scrape it all away. It is slow going, and Cashman Product Support Sales Representative, Dan Hunt, has been discussing alternative machines that might get the job done more effectively. “The smaller D7 dozers they own just can’t get the material moving, but it’s not cost effective to use a D10,” Hunt said to Stone during a July trip to Lake Mead. As the two men studied the half-cleared beach under the fierce desert sun, they debated other options like scrapers or trying different attachments on the backhoe loader. Despite all their brainstorming, the conclusion was that the rugged, reliable Caterpillar motor grader is likely the best machine for the job.

“They don’t have time for breakdowns out at the lake,” Hunt confirmed. “And, as a governmental agency, they’re very budget conscious. They don’t have any extra equipment sitting around – they need to use everything they’ve got.”

Stone said they started on the most popular beaches, furiously working to make sure Boulder Beach was ready for the influx of people for the 4^th of July weekend. Stone, Gloyne, and Moore will be attending to as many beaches as possible to ensure that the lake the Hoover Dam made continues to improve Southern Nevada in the years ahead.

Finally – all the budgeting concerns have been taken care of and that brand new, productivity-increasing machine is on site. However, as the days wear on, it’s obvious that operating this new piece of equipment isn’t as simple as you thought. It’s something that can be easily fixed with a session with an Operator Trainer, though!

Cashman’s operator trainers can conduct training classes at one of our locations or on your job site. Having an average of 25 years of experience, each of our operator trainers knows the ins, outs, ups, and downs of virtually every Caterpillar machine. They also know the incredible value of safety on the job.  Our operator trainers can get those machines moving, and moving efficiently, so that productivity is maximized.

  Never forget 9-11-2001

Your equipment has hundreds of moving parts that work together in unison for optimal machine performance. However, that performance can be severely jeopardized by improper start up or shut down procedures.

Adequate warm up and cool down time is just one vital step in eliminating undue stress on your components – something that can lead to costly, premature machine failure. Click here for the full list of start up and shut down practices including cycling all controls and allowing fluids to properly circulate.

Changing environmental regulations can be difficult to keep up with. Are there new restrictions on smog levels? Are you appropriately controlling the water runoff from your job site? Are your commercial renovations disturbing lead-based paint? Not only can new environmental regs affect your business operations, they can also raise the cost of doing business. However, there is a plain language regulation compliance website that can assist you in keeping track of the changes that will impact you. The Construction Industry Compliance Center (CICA) website can help you stay informed, while also providing you with a starting point for additional research.

While the inventor of the hard hat, the Bullard Company, asserts that the first official “Hard Hat Area” was the Golden Gate Bridge project in San Francisco in January 1933, the Hoover Dam was actually the first construction site to mandate hard hats on the job.

Six Companies, Inc., the Hoover Dam construction company, required all its workers to wear hard hats by November 1931.  On October 28, 1931, The Las Vegas Review Journal wrote, “Nobody will be allowed in the canyon bottom without one of the helmets, henceforth, according to Ed Brockman, supervisor of insurance and safety for the Big Six.”  The story continued, “And Six Companies is paying the bill.  A helmet for every man!  And more than fifty dozen already have been issued.  Others are en route from the factory, enough to protect the craniums of the army in its entirety.”

From all indications, the hard hats were purchased from San Francisco’s E. D. Bullard Company.  According to a Review-Journal article on April 20, 1932, a carpenter wearing a hard hat survived a blow to the head from a four by six timber.  Although the hat was dented, the carpenter quickly returned to work.

Source: Nevada State Library & Archives, http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=778&Itemid=418