The Move
| The
move finally took place on September 20th,
2002. York Shaw had already moved the school off
its foundation, so that the Lions could expand their
farmers’ market in the summer of 2002. Dave
Shaw said that they would be at the site at 9am, the
school would be loaded and ready to go for about 10am.
As expected, things were right on schedule. Wheels
were placed under the rear wheels of the beams holding
the school and cables from the tow truck were attached to
the other ends of the beams. The truck lifted the front
end, the supports were removed and we were rolling.
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Within
5 minutes the school was out of the Lions lot and moving
down Nagway Road. They waited for a gap in the
traffic, then drove across 1A highway, turned left onto
the service road, past the gas station and right onto 125
Avenue. The overhead cable at Bearspaw Road caused
them to pause for a few minutes, while one of the workers
brought out a 2x4 and raised the cable enough for the
school to slide underneath. The turn into the
parking lot caused a minor problem, as the entrance way
was not quite wide enough and the sides were soft. However,
after a bit of to and froing, they were into the parking
lot and lining the school up with the foundation. |
| Because the ground fell off to the north, we decided to slide the school in from the east. To so this, Shaw lay two 60ft beams east-west over the basement, then placed the school onto the beams. They then covered the 60ft beams and winched the school along the beams to the west over the basement. They then jacked up the school on its beams, removed the 60ft beams and started to lower the school. | |
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When
the school was about 2 inches above the basement, they
stopped, checked that all was aligned, adjusted the
school a bit to the east, a bit to the north, rotated it
a few degrees, then when every one was happy, they
lowered it onto the basement. |
| An hour later, the beams were removed and York Shaw had gone. The move was almost an anticlimax after all the preparation and frustrations. But it was good to know that the school was saved from demolition. Note the beam being removed from the beam pocket on the north (right) side of the building. | |