Day 3, and statue still doesn't budge

Thursday, Day 3: That 17-foot statue of Leif Erikson at Shilshole Bay still wouldn't budge, even after some 40 man-hours of hammering and drilling.

It wouldn't budge even after crews dulled half-a-dozen tips from a jackhammer and broke a 1 ¼-inch drill bit.

"It surprised me in its strength, and it surprised me that there was concrete," said Roger Waterhouse, project manager for Artech, the company contracted to move the bronze statue to Kent to fix blemishes caused by weathering.

He said some 3,000 pounds of concrete had been poured into the statue's hollow legs, which then set hard against the foundation. In addition, it was held down with steel rebar up to an inch thick, as well as ¾-inch steel bolts.

Without the concrete, the statue weighs 8,000 pounds, and when it finally is lifted, there will be straps along not only the middle of Erikson, but the bottoms of his feet, to make sure the concreted legs don't break off.

"It's a monster," Waterhouse said.

Erikson is to be refurbished and moved about 200 feet to a new home.

The statue has been a local icon for 45 years.

Erikson was a Viking many believe was the first European to reach America, 500 years before Columbus, and a source of pride for local Scandinavians.

Thursday at Shilshole, just as it was on Tuesday and Wednesday, a noontime ceremony in which a crane would hoist Erikson was canceled.

Kristine Leander, president of the Leif Erikson International Foundation (www.leiferikson.org), which is raising funds for Erikson's new site, wouldn't predict when the fourth try at a lifting ceremony would take place. Maybe Friday, maybe this weekend, she said, but who knows?

She said about Erikson, "He just keeps surprising us."

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com