> Over the years, Pitelka has rescued some of these rocks and deposited them at his mom’s five-acre property, including a large hunk of limestone that, when he dumped it out of his truck, split in half to reveal a perfect trilobite fossil, convex on one side and a matching imprint on the other.
> “I was so excited to hear that the right people got involved,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s going to be on display. For me, as an (excavator) who loves boulders, it’s the coolest thing that people understand its historical significance and appreciate it.”
• Sweet Stone Chicago
• No ORDinary Rock
• Chicago Rocks
• O'Rock
• Orchard Rock
• Da Rock
"No ORDinary Rock" and "Orchard Rock" are the winners for me. They both pay tribute to how O'Hare got its IATA airport code in the 1940s, when it was called Orchard Field.
So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.
If you're ever in the area of Madison, NH and have absolutely nothing else to do, the Madison Boulder is kinda neat. [0] It's a little bigger at about 5k tons.
I thought the same thing. My back yard is full of huge rocks. Nothing quite that large, maybe 1/3 of that size. A few doors down there is a boulder twice as big as the O'Hare one.
I'm speaking in volume. I'm not sure of the mass of these boulders.
In chicagoland, yes. For someone who moved there from California, it was strange that rocks hardly larger than a human warranted school field trips and plaques. Perhaps it is geologically cool, but I was unimpressed as a 6th grader. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53236492797_60069bde90_b...
When Toronto had to name their team, I’m sure that the success of Jurassic Park helped the finalist (Raptors) win. I’m surprised “Rocky” didn’t make a finalist here (via Project Hail Mary).
Tangent time: I've got a smaller one in my yard, and I've got a set of feathers and wedges to avoid having to dig it all up at once. Here's a video of someone using feathers and wedges to split granite.
Years ago, a company that I worked for had a huge boulder in the parking lot area that had simply been built around. At some point, facilities decided they were going to remove the boulder. Employees printed up some tee shirts that said "Save the BFR". Because, you know, it was a big rock.
There's something about finding huge rocks in the ground while digging that makes you just want to take them out and like, use them for something? The last one I found I had to make myself leave it there (well I moved it over a foot so a pipe didn't have to go around it). Like no, it has sat here for thousands of years just fine, it can keep sitting. Glad to hear it applies to 50 ton ones, as well.
Oh sure, I'm definitely familiar with those. The weird ones are in forests, a reminder that an area used to be clear and then was left to grow back.
The walls of stones were the result of collecting stones that were near the surface from what I understand (maybe plow depth). I was talking more like bigger stones that were buried several feet under the ground that could just stay where they are (when you fill in the hole), but for a compulsion to treat them as things.
Colbert is not a Chicago figure. You'd have to remind the median Chicagoan who knows who he is that he ever spent time here. You might just as easily name it after Bob Odenkirk.
here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!
> Over the years, Pitelka has rescued some of these rocks and deposited them at his mom’s five-acre property, including a large hunk of limestone that, when he dumped it out of his truck, split in half to reveal a perfect trilobite fossil, convex on one side and a matching imprint on the other.
> “I was so excited to hear that the right people got involved,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s going to be on display. For me, as an (excavator) who loves boulders, it’s the coolest thing that people understand its historical significance and appreciate it.”
[0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36225652
But as a resident of the Chicago area, I’m partial to Da Rock
Da Rocky McRockface
So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.
Then in generations to some, old people can explain that Dwayne Johnson was the King of Wrestling and then became King of Hollywood.
ORD as an acronym? O Rock D
O’Hare Rock Dolostone O’Hare Runway Dolomite
Rocky.
Da Dolo
I had no idea that would be rare, what makes it relatively rare?
Because, we so often take it for granite.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Boulder
I'm speaking in volume. I'm not sure of the mass of these boulders.
Maybe that’s too Philadelphia.
O’Hare “Rocky” Dolomite
https://youtu.be/s7_z-SGxUAs?si=vUKYBWYvG7nncszd&t=924
https://time.com/5772944/large-small-boulder/
PS. If visiting Chicago check out the Lincoln Park Conservatory, an amazing historic plant collection with one of the world's best ferneries, very close to downtown. https://www.lincolnparkconservancy.org/projects/conservatory...
https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/history/hist...
In “original” England they did as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The walls of stones were the result of collecting stones that were near the surface from what I understand (maybe plow depth). I was talking more like bigger stones that were buried several feet under the ground that could just stay where they are (when you fill in the hole), but for a compulsion to treat them as things.
In “original” England they did as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_The_Colbert...