340 Ton Rock
Woman in the Middle | February 16, 2012It is amazing what will catch people’s interest. Company’s pay big money to get the attention of the public and then…out of the blue…BAM! Without even trying a news story grows legs and off it goes! That is what has happened with the 340 ton rock. What? You haven’t heard of the 340 ton rock? Just google “340 ton rock” or “340 ton boulder” and you will see stories from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and all points in between.
Last week I visited the Stone Valley Materials quarry, located in a geographical formation called Pyrite Canyon, in the community of Glen Avon, in my city of Jurupa Valley. The rock was selected by artist Michael Heizer to be placed in a permanent art installation at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) that he is calling “Levitated Mass.” The now infamous rock will have to take surface streets at night while resting in plastic wrapped glory on its specially constructed trailer. It is wrapped so no tagging can occur during its trip. It will travel no faster than 8 miles an hour for about seven miles a night. The trip will take about 9 nights to accomplish. By the way, do not believe the news reports that this rock is from Riverside. They lie.
I visited the quarry last week because a reporter from “California Report” wanted to see the rock but also wanted to talk to people about our new city of Jurupa Valley. I was asked to participate because I know quite a bit about the history of our area. What can I say, we all need hobbies! I was as curious as the reporter about the whole process of how the rock came to be and how the rock is getting moved. One of the interesting things I found out is that the rock is actually a mistake. When the granite is dynamited the plan is for the result to be rocks of a certain size. Those may be used as is as “riprap” for things like breakwaters, jettys, and flood control projects. They make also be broken down into a variety of increasingly smaller types of products. So, when the explosives went “boom” and this huge, 340 ton rock fell, it was not the operator’s intended result. Then the artist visited, saw the huge mistake, and the rest is history!
If everything goes to the current plan, the rock will begin moving February 22nd. However, the plan has changed numerous times in the last five years due to the complicated nature of this move. Here is hoping it hits the road soon! I am sure when it does you will hear about it on the news!
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