DaveS
Not far from me the city/county/state worked together to preserve a fairly large area of land into a park system (Millenium Park). The plan was to continue to add to it until it offered quite a bit of opportunity for recreation. The area was dotted with gravel pits and to my knowledge all the pits were dug with a dragline system. The man who originally owned and operated the gravel operation and ran the dragline passed in 2009 at age 93. His son lives down the road from me and his crane is sitting in his yard yet. Now, how much experience the son has with those systems I don't know but there is a good chance he would know enough to either answer your questions or might still know someone else in the area who could.
A few tidbits from his obituary that I found online: "George was born January 21, 1916 the third child and first son of Dutch immigrants, and as a child of the Great Depression, he regretfully had to end his formal education after the 8th grade to help support his family. At age 19, George joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. where he helped carve out Bewabic State Park from the virgin forest of the UP near Crystal Falls, MI. George proudly served his country for 4.5 years in WWII in the 3rd Army of the 90th Infantry under General Patton. As a leader in the transportation unit, it was his job to keep vehicles moving as the army fought their way across Europe to the Czech Border. After V-E Day, he spent months on Occupation Duty on the German border near Weiden. Following his Honorable Discharge, he rejoined his faithful wife and their two young daughters, and with determination and hard work, they established Sietsema Brothers Excavating where he worked until age 92. George enjoyed reading and good humor and believed in starting each day with a goal. He cherished time with his family and weekends at his lake cabin where he enjoyed water skiing, horse shoes, and campfires."
Private message me if you think this is worth chasing down and I can try to figure out how to connect you to his son who lives on the SW side of Grand Rapids.
