Rebuilding a 100-Year Old Jetty w/ 40-Ton Rocks

This summer, we visited marine contractor JE McAmis outside of Astoria, Oregon, to watch them rebuild a historic jetty on the mouth of the Columbia River.
After a century of pounding by the Pacific Ocean, the two-mile stone structure was in disrepair. Since it helps to keep the critical Columbia River channel open to commerce and protects everyone upriver from storm surges, the Army Corps began to draw up plans for rebuilding it.
JE McAmis won the contract a few years ago and is now working to place hundreds of thousands of tons of armor stone over the next few summers.
They built a custom Cat 6020B long reach excavator to place the rock, with nearly 100' of reach. It's a WILD machine, and we loved watching it in action!
For more info on J.E. McAmis and the project:
www.nwp.usace.army.mil/jetties/
jemcamis.com/

[@jimsvideos7201]

There's a video floating around on here of a 6040 with an extra segment in the boom, tossing boulders out in the same manner. It's worth a look.

[@AaronWitt]

oof

[@niklas_at]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZuzeGqda6aifNUsi=1Lio-QTigJQ9mmfy

[@UncleManuel]

These guys rock! A lot! 😁🤟

[@xtctrader1467]

That's some serious stones....

[@leroyaultmon]

The Build witt gang Strikes again create phenomenal content and explore America

[@khadijagwen]

Immediately, I thought that might be the Astoria Jetty. I've been there many times. Originally the rock for the Jetty came from an Island Quarry up the columbia river about 30 miles from Portland/Troutdale. The remnants of the Island are likely still visible along I-84 the Columbia river. The original rocks were much bigger and they placed them using a drag line off a barge.

[@ChuckBeefOG]

I had to pick through a pile once and select 500mm-800mm boulders. Engineer hopping down on the slope with a measuring tape. Was ready to smack him in the lake by day 3.

[@kersa1995]

Happy New Year everyone! ❤🎉

[@rimriser8062]

Amazing project!

[@TsunauticusIV]

Hope you guys had a great Christmas. I’m sure 2024 will be good to you. You are quite literally living my dream life btw. I would love to travel to amazing job sites and see all the amazing sights and learn about it all too. Oh boy I’m starting to ramble. 😆 Anyway, happy holidays and go get em in 2024!

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching this year!!

[@BehindtheHardHat]

Great video Aaron!

[@AaronWitt]

thank you!

[@user-bs6mt9gs6c]

just imagine if a hurricane comes in

[@cristofleonhardt]

Awesome!

[@erictxaviation4451]

This seems like it would be a perfect jobsite for those rotating dump trucks that are on tracks, if they could get one with a enough capacity. Drive forward all the way down the jetty and rotate, dump, then drive forward again with no backing.

[@Daddytagnix]

Idk if it they would because they are so small I feel like they could not haul enough at one time to make it worth it to use them maybe if the customized one with a bigger bed it would work great idea though 👍

[@AaronWitt]

you're right but they would struggle with even the small rocks on this project

[@gabegjl3265]

That would be insane slow with accurate positioning of rocks. 2 rocks at a time in the rock truck. Looks like it would take years to finish the project!

[@AaronWitt]

yep about 5 years

[@stewatparkpark2933]

@@AaronWitt Then they start over .

[@rockkitty100]

Great video! Would be interesting to see the haul trucks loaded on the other end of the trip. Thanks!

[@taurnocerostradeguides]

5:40 - 6:10 holy moly

[@ClaytonHartin]

Hello from Miller Pipeline

[@gabethomas3190]

That's officially the biggest excavator I've seen with a thumb on it. Once they get above a 450 size you don't see hardly any with thumbs. Freaking cool 😎

[@burtbrooks7731]

We gotta talk bout the chin strap Aaron 😂 com’on jabronie, pretty sweet set up on the hoe tho👌 and the video as always awesome job and explanation of what’s going down👊

[@IronWarrior95]

Awesome machine! I was interested how long the stick and boom could be on a big excavator over 150t. Would be awesome when they would build a 6040 or 6060 with a long boom and long stick. It could probably still handle a 10m³ bucket with no problem. Would be a crazy piece of machinery!

[@janw4725]

Snijder bv , van tunen . 2 company's in Holland. You can hire bigger excavators than this puppy

[@02_ahmadulinuha49]

0:10 wow

[@sanyivscobar3449]

Ah damn I was binging these but I didn’t see the Sacramento vid was hoping to maybe see some teichert work or something along those lines

[@ronblack7870]

i would want to see the quarry where they get the rocks and how they transport them to the site. must need a huge number of trucks.

[@AaronWitt]

I worked on a quarry for the project across the river and it was a lot of fun

[@clydestanley4740]

Some of the rock comes from our quarry Big River Construction. approximately 12 miles inland. The rock was stockpiled about a year in advance to the start of the project. Also the rock is supplied in the off season and stockpiled.McAmis owns several quarry’s up and down the coast That they Barge to the site to a temporary dock on the Columbia River side of the jetty. Summer months only. There’s about a 2 mile haul road from the dock to the stockpile area. The numbers circled on the rock in the video is tons. The other numbers are the number of the rock. I think. Awesome job and McAmis is a great GC to work for.

[@HubertofLiege]

Some comes from snohomish and skagit counties in Washington state. Trucked to barges and floated down the coast.

[@truckinforjesus]

In 2006, I remember low bed trailers hauling boulders south on I-5 for this jetty which I believe is by Warrenton, OR. I was told the boulders were from the Mount Vernon area. Also, there was a DOT cop waiting for those deliveries and writing weight tickets left and right in Warrenton. Like magic one day he just disappeared and never came back. The mill I was bringing logs to speculated that someone in congress or the senate made some calls on behalf of that project considering it was federal. @@HubertofLiege

[@jimbeam2705]

That actually would be more fun to do compared to loading trucks all day.

[@AaronWitt]

it's really tricky work

[@alastairwilliams9550]

I know this is going to sound like a rude question but what’s your job? Do you do jobs at these work sites or are you purely a photographer for the job sites you go to? Not a lot of people get access so so many job sites and Judy wondering how.

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for the question I appreciate the interest -- you can look up our company at buildwitt.com -- my role is mostly traveling to sites to educate society on the industry / build our brand. The more people we reach, the more our business grows, the more people we can hopefully attract to the industry

[@drewlipe9307]

DUUDE that’s so cool. I’m from battle ground Wa and when I seen the video first thing I thought of was the north jetty on the Washington side. Come check out Tapani inc out of Battle Ground WA, Pasco/Tricities WA and Wieser Idaho

[@AaronWitt]

hopefully we can check out Tapani soon!

[@jimholty2274]

Where do they get the big rocks and how far? Do they haul in by truck or rail?

[@AaronWitt]

they bring them all in by barge. And haul by truck from the quarries

[@litz13]

Big boy Tetris

[@predator123435]

Would have been cool to see where the rock came from

[@2009deerejohn]

That’s definitely the coolest hoe I have ever seen, I’ve run some neat stuff, seen even more online but that’s the hands down most bad ass one yet! I wish someone would make a replica, I’d totally drop some serious coin to add something like that to my collection

[@AaronWitt]

it would cost $$$ but would look sick

[@kevinkelley332]

2 pieces of equipment to do all that?...thought it was really important program with a tight window.

[@AaronWitt]

it is but it's a really small space so only so much you can do

[@flimex]

Crazy eagle 87

[@nycsox987]

have we not seen this video / machine doing this before? edit: je does reference that video

[@AaronWitt]

yep they're working for multiple seasons

[@flimex]

Pure tiger 87

[@Maxmudjon.]

Dry friend 73

[@user-qy8ho7fh9c]

Bad designer 41

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

Bro don’t even need tracks 💀

[@flimex]

вот коммент

[@Al-mj2fw]

In name of god i need a job

[@peanuts2105]

These videos are about as in depth as a paddling pool. Less chatting bollocks, more talking about the machines and blokes who drive them

[@AaronWitt]

glad you enjoy them!

[@scottunderwood3481]

When yiu say your going up in the cab but dont.😔😔

[@anthonyjohnson100]

Surprised they don’t use monster concrete jacks on the ocean side to slow the waves down. Japan is a lot better at this than the corp…

[@jamesweir2943]

since you weren’t paying attention that breakwaters been there over 100 years.

[@anthonyjohnson100]

@jamesweir2943 Since you weren’t paying attention they have to make constant repairs because nothing is slowing the surf down so my statement stands valid. 🤙🇺🇸

[@jamesweir2943]

@@anthonyjohnson100 awww, poor baby. check in with your mom, everything will be OK.

[@plec15]

Bad music choices. Always Ruins the viewing experience

[@Tmjpwns]

Looks like they need some tetrapods. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapod_(structure) Works in Berlevåg, Norway against sea.