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Giant "Weather Rock" Amazes Visitors To Iowa Farm
"People can't believe it when they see it," says Mike Dick, Humboldt, Iowa, about the giant 18-ton "weather rock" that hangs at the end of his driveway. It's held in the air by two 9-in. dia. steel posts that support a wooden railroad trestle. It took a whole truck load of cement to make the 6-ft. deep footings.
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Giant "Weather Rock" Amazes Visitors To Iowa Farm ROCK PICKERS Rock Pickers 23-3-44 "People can't believe it when they see it," says Mike Dick, Humboldt, Iowa, about the giant 18-ton "weather rock" that hangs at the end of his driveway. It's held in the air by two 9-in. dia. steel posts that support a wooden railroad trestle. It took a whole truck load of cement to make the 6-ft. deep footings.
The 12-ft. high, 8-ft. wide granite rock hangs about 18 in. off the ground. It's held up by a threaded steel bolt that runs all the way up through the rock to a homemade swivel that allows it to sway in the wind.
Dick operates an agricultural fabricating business on the same small acreage where he lives. "It's a great attention getter. A lot of people drive by our place just to look at it."
For anyone not familiar with it, "weather rocks" have been used for years to get a laugh. Here's how you use it to tell the weather. If the rock is wet, it's raining. If it's moving, it's windy. If it's hot, it's hot out, etc.
Dick bought his rock from a local quarry. He drilled a hole through the rock using a 13-in. long, 1 5/8-in. dia. carbide-tipped drill bit welded onto the end of a 12-ft. long pipe. A garden hose hooks up to the pipe to cool the bit with water. He then inserted a 15-ft. long, 1 5/8-in. dia. threaded steel bolt through the hole and put a nut on the bottom end.
A 50-ton crane lifted the rock into place.
"It was a fun challenge to set up," says Dick. "While hauling the rock home we stopped at a grain elevator in town to weigh it. It weighed 36,180 lbs. The rock is as flat as a table on the side that faces the highway. I plan to engrave our business name and the rock's weight onto it.
"Surprisingly, it takes only about a 4 mph breeze to make the rock sway in the wind but it doesn't move much. Last fall we had a 60 mph wind that moved the rock about an inch."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Dick, M.D. Products, 1998 215th St., Humboldt, Iowa 50548 (ph 515 332-3550; fax 3770).
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