Sand and gravel are still extracted from lakes and riverbeds using “draglines”—cranes rigged with “clamshell” buckets dropped into the water and dragged to shore loaded with material.  Sand and gravel are also mined in open pits, which often are later converted to man-made lakes for housing developments.

Local 150 also represents the hundreds of operators throughout its jurisdiction engaged in asphalt production.  An endloader operator feeds the asphalt plant with sand and “chips.” A plant operator the manipulates highly complex controls to add oil and thus obtain the specified asphalt mix for use in highways, parking lots, and driveways.