What was that?

 When the Money Tree Casino was close to being complete, I took the time to watch a new crane being assembled across the street, in front of the Sahara Reno Hotel & Casino.

The boom and the jib were laid out on the ground while the Iron worker's bolted them together. That same day, we heard that the crane was going to be in the air in just a minute or two. We had to see this. The crane was around 300' and the Jib was close to 30' long. 

Ordinarily, a second and smaller crane was needed to help lift the boom off the street. But the operator said he didn't need any help; the crane had enough power to do it. The operator then had the big diesel engine thundering as he pulled the lever to raise the boom and up it came. Everyone was impressed and then it was time to knock off for the day. We would be back in the morning.

Morning came but there was nothing new to see. I still had a small crew, so I gave them the instructions for a project in the basement. Later that morning I went down to see how they were doing. There were no problems so I was walking up the stairs to the first floor, and just as I reached the last step, I heard a tremendous noise and the pedestrian safety walkway blew apart in front of me and in the hole that was left, I could see loops of heavy cable slowly swaying. 

I pushed a piece of plywood aside and came out onto the sidewalk. Looking up I saw the boom laying on the roof of the motel next door and the end of the boom was over on Virginia St. I later learned that the Block and the Headache Ball had come through the roof and were laying on the floor of the Womens restroom. Luckily, no one was there and no one was hurt at the motel.

I looked over to where the crane should have been. It had been dragged more than half way across the street, snapping off a few 'outriggers' as it traveled sideways. Luck was in play again as the right hand lane had been blocked to traffic and no one was in the left lane. The cab of the crane was empty and we learned later that the operator had fled the scene. Why did the crane fall? There had been some stiff winds that morning and the operator tried turning the near vertical boom without lowering it so the wind would be blocked.

It took some time and another (small) crane to remove the wreckage. Now it was time for lawyers and insurance companies to sort out the remaining mess left behind.

I have been looking for some photos of the accident with 0 results. That was frustrating but normal, the age of the cell phone was still in the future.