The ancient pile driving machine is delivered in pieces to the job site. The crew assembles it and they use it's engine, railroad track, cables and pulleys to move it around the site. Once in place they drag a pile into position and begin driving it into the ground by dropping a 3 ton weight on it.
An engineer determines the size of the pile, in our case 8x8"x16', by drilling a test hole and the load it will carry.
Not all of the piles can be driven their full length into the ground. they hit bedrock, so they are chiseled off. There is rebar in each pile and it is bared and tied with the rebar in the 16x16x16" piece which is tied to the column rebar. The 16x16x16 covers the connecting joint between the pile and the column.
The workers make between 7 and 9 dollars a day. So they are not yet driven by technology. Drives me crazy if I watch too long, but beer is cheap and that helps.
