Henry Street Hazing: Busters and Blisters

A young laborer learns the hard way what 90 lb. busters and a concrete deck can do to your hands.

One Project Done in the mid 60’s was repairing the Henry St. Bridge over I-90 in Cheektowaga. The eastbound span was hit by a lowboy moving a large hydraulic excavator from Niagara Falls. One may ask how it made it all the way from the Falls without hitting something sooner.
The driver left the machine running to charge the batteries. In those days, hydraulic lockout levers were non-existent, so the boom slowly rose along the trip. He even made it through the old Ogden St. Toll Plaza before whacking the bridge!

It was our job to remove the deck and straighten the beams. After getting the contract word spread about the task ahead. I was 15 at the time and Phil (you remember Phil) was driving me to and from work while the family was residing at some lakeside cottage near a southern tier project.
I know, “Poor Bobby!”

Anyhow, Phil made plain to me how I was going to suffer when the deck removal started. After one day of running a 90 lb. buster, you will wake up with your hands unable to open and every muscle will hurt.

The first night Phil took me home I sat down on the “glider” on the porch, a sort of a couch. Next thing I heard was Phil blowing his horn. Of course, I’m thinking what did he come back for, when I realized it was 7:00 AM and I slept the last 12 hrs. on the porch! Next, I realized that my hands indeed would not open, and I hurt like hell. I asked Phil, what to do and he said, “Slide your hands over the gun grips and get to work!”
The 15-man crew truly enjoyed that day watching me suffer while of course trying to get me to quit. Now one may ask what in the hell was 15 men & one boy doing with 90 lb. busters on the deck?

This was before machine mounted breakers & the 90 lb. busters were as common as shovels in those days. 1 week later, the deck was gone.