LOFALL, Kitsap County, Setp. 4 (1949), - A ten-ton bulldozer, which has lain under 230 feet of water for nearly a month, was ready to be beached here today in an "amateur" salvage operation which professional divers said "couldn't be done."
The bulldozer was part of a cargo of logging equipment lost August 9, when a small barge carring the equipment from Sunset Beach, near here, to South Point, Jefferson County, capsized in Hood Canal, a mile and a half from Lofall.
Roy Damitz, a Poulsbo logger, and his 22-year-old son, LeRoy, were thrown into the water as the barge, listing from a bad leak, turned over. Damitz was able to recover the two-ton logging "arch" which floated because of its baloon tires, but the $6000 'dozer sank to the mud bottom.
Divers Can't Find It
Damitz called in divers from a Seattle salvage firm. They were unable to find the bulldozer and told Damitz it would be impossible to do so.
Loggers and fisherment then set out on a salvage operation in which they had to rely on make-shift equipment, physical endurance and just plain "fishermen's luck".
Bill Lofall, son of 96-year-old Helge Lofall, founder of this community, who still is able to take a daily stroll on the beach, improvised a grappling rig of loading hooks used in logging camps.
Crusing in the canal in a 37-foot fishing boat, Lofall and his cronies, Albert Vaa, Emil Malen, Alfred Peterson and Clifford Whitford finally found the 'dozer.
Hoisting Arm Hooked
After many tries, the men were able to hook on the 'dozer's hydraulic hoisting arm and a 66-foot scow was taken out from the shore and moored along side the fishing boat. Two stump pullers appropriated from a nearby logging camp, were mounted on the scow and steel cables were rigged from the pullers through a block and attached to the grappling line.
Bill Lofall's wife, Martha, and Dick Weiss went out to lend a hand, Mrs. Lofall in cooking for the men and Weiss on the back-breaking stump pullers. By working the pullers' handles 57 time, the heavy bulldozer could be raised one foot.
The men brought the 'dozer up to 80 feet Wednesday afternoon and evening, but a heav storm halted the operation .
Friday, the men were able to raise the 'dozer to a point where it hung off the scow's stern and the scow was brought to shore.