Barn moving in Nebraska

[Sam Mac]

BARN MOVING IN NEBRASKA (Incredible)
Read story before clicking on link. News report from
Bruno, NE In 1981, Herman Ostry and his wife, Donna,
bought a farm a half mile outside of Bruno, NE, a small
community sixty miles west of Omaha.
The property had a creek and came with a barn built
in the 1920's. The barn floor was always wet and
muddy. When the creek flooded in 1988, the barn
ended up with 29 inches of water covering the floor.
That was the last straw. Ostry needed to move it to
higher ground. He contacted a building moving company
and was discouraged by the bid.
One night around the table, Ostry commented that if
they had enough people they could pick the barn up
and move it to higher ground. Everyone laughed. A
few days later, Ostry's son Mike showed his father
some calculations. He had counted the individual
boards and timbers in the barn and estimated that
the barn weighed approximately 16,640 pounds. He
also estimated that a steel grid needed to move the
barn would add another 3,150 pounds, bringing the
total weight to just under 10 tons. He figured it
would take around 350 people with each person
lifting 56 lbs. to move the barn.
The town of Bruno, Nebraska was planning its
centennial celebration in late July of 1988. Herman
and Mike presented their barn moving idea to the
committee. The committee decided to make it part of
their celebration.
So, on July 30, 1988, shortly before 11 a.m., a
quick test lift was successfully made. Then, as local
television cameras and 4,000 people from eleven states
watched, 350 people moved the barn 115 feet south
and 6 feet higher up a gentle slope and set it on its
new foundation.
Click below to watch the incredible move!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o83W0gj_CRE