[TowerTalk] Tower base hole?

[Tom Anderson]

In 1993 I had a friend of mine who owned a back hoe dig my hole for free
since he and I were active adult leaders in Northeast Tarrant County
(Fort Worth) Boy Scout troops. Only trouble was I didn't know the
neighborhood where I moved to was permeated by underground springs.  So
the 4x4x6 foot hole for the TriEx WT51 crankup that he dug one evening
after getting off work was filled with nearly 6 ft of water the next
morning.

I had the city water folks come out and inspect it because I thought we
had a water leak, but the city was nice enough to pump it out and then
show me all the "streams" of water trickling into the hole.  I had
wondered why the former owner never put in a sprinkler system in the
back yard and kept telling me the back yard never needed watering.  I
knew then.

The city filled in the hole for me at no charge after warning me that
the whole area had underground springs.
We never did figure out how a Chevy pickup truck steering wheel was
found at the 6 ft. level because the water department and city planning
department assured me our subdivision (no CC&Rs against towers) was not
built over a land fill.  The steering wheel was the only weird thing we
found, other than some large pieces of natural sandstone.  
 
I later hired a tower contractor whose card I found at Texas Towers in
Plano TX a few weeks later.  He dug the hole by hand after moving over a
few feet from the old location and poured the tower base (six sack
concrete mix) all in one day so water wasn't a problem.