New Temple in Provo: Hitting Bottom

The sun came out from behind the clouds for a few minutes while I was at the site today.

While excavation is ongoing, it looks to me as though they might have dug deep enough.

The two east corners were being excavated today, while work on the west side appears to be at a further stage. This is the southeast corner. The white pipe in the center of this picture is part of the pumping system to keep the site dry. Look carefully to see a new well next to the pipe. It has a yellow hose rising out of it.

The northeast corner was a beehive of activity. Notice the track hoe in the center of the photo. A small front end loader can be seen to the right, but there are actually two of them.

The two small front end loaders are bringing dirt from the excavation to the edge. There the yellow track hoe moves the dirt to within the reach of a much bigger track hoe. You can see the shovel of the larger track hoe in the far left of this photo.

This picture was taken from the south. The larger track hoe, here obscured by a dump truck, is not only removing the dirt initially brought by the small front end loaders, but he's also digging out the east wall of dirt. He then dumped the dirt into the truck which had backed into position on the right. You are thinking that it looks like a tight squeeze, and you are right. The green hose, by the way, is draining water which has been pumped from the basement area. You can see more activity in the north lot behind the track hoe.

This picture of the north lot was taken from the parking garage on the west side. I do not know what is happening, but I believe this is water, well, it's actually ice, on top of the area dug out by the huge trencher a few weeks ago. The red and white machine was working in this same area two days ago.

This picture of the same location was taken from the east. Notice the drilling machine in the background. He was there on Tuesday, also.

While I watched, the dump truck which had earlier been loaded by Mr. Track Hoe drove south from the east side, then drove west in front of the south side of the tabernacle. He then backed north along the west side and then into position here on the north lot. With guidance from the workmen, he placed his load near other loads which had been dropped recently.

I then watched the same truck return around the west and south sides and back into place along the east side so he could be in position to receive more dirt. You can see a tandem dump truck along the far left side of this picture. He was working with another large track hoe on the south side. It appears that the dirt which was under the former First South is being completely removed except for the mound where the yellow cement silo stands.

This is a picture, with the sun back behind the clouds, from the west side.

The reason I think this might be the final level of excavation is because it appears to me that gravel is now being brought in.

Bracing the lower length of the piers is progressing on the west side. Notice a new well on the far right side of this picture similar to one near the white pipe at the southeast corner. These wells should ensure that nothing left of the ancient Lake Bonneville gets inside the new temple.