JIM O'NEILL   |   THE PILE BUCK LEGACY

Born and raised in Harpers Ferry, IA, Jim grew up on a farm with two brothers and a sister. The O’Neills were no strangers to hard work; they raised chickens, cows, and hogs. Every weekday morning, Jim got up by 4:00 am to help with farm work before heading to school; after school, he returned to the farm and worked until 10:00 pm at night. His weekend hours were no different.

After graduating from Lansing’s St. George Catholic High School in 1967, Jim landed his first job: loading railroad cars in Cedar Rapids. Mike Manning, then a superintendent at Nelosca, recruited Jim to join our team in late 1968.

Jim’s first job at Nelosca was as a general laborer on a bridge project in Waterloo, IA. There, he worked under the tutelage of Ralph Nelosca and superintendent Urban Strub, beginning a long and industrious career in pile driving. Soon, Jim was involved in some of our biggest jobs at the time, including the Dubuque Flood Wall project in 1970 and the nearly catastrophic Prairie Bridge project in 1974. On the latter job, Jim was working in a cofferdam when ice-loading caused an adjacent cofferdam to collapse and sent crew member Donnie Hammel Jr. into the frigid waters of the Mississippi River.

During his first decade working at Nelosca, Jim was the “young guy” in the crew; he often had the arduous task of being the “loftsman,” sitting on top of the sheets and threading the interlocks as a crane lowered each individual sheet pile into position. Jim had to shimmy up the sheet pile (or ride the hook) and use a special set of stirrups to straddle the top of the wall. It required a great deal of skill to thread sheeting from this position, and it was dangerous work. A gust of wind could catch a sheet pile during a lift and blow it into the unprotected loftsman. But in Jim’s view, he was part of a team and that was his job: “Everyone had their deal. I was involved in pile driving and sheeting.” By the 1980s, Jim ran his own crews.

Most of Jim’s jobs took place along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, but as Nelosca expanded, he traveled where he was needed. He worked with the Specialty division (Underwater Services group) to raise a bridge in Wall, SD, with the Dredge division (Environmental group) during the 1993 flood to restore the levees in Missouri.

Jim was part of our first environmental remediation project where he helped divert the Grand Calumet River. Jim also worked with the Lock and Dam division (Structural group) on several lock projects, including the Locks & Dams #15 and #10 major rehabilitation projects.

After spending 43 years at Nelosca, it’s difficult to fathom the breadth of impact Jim made along the Upper Mississippi River. He could travel the river and point out countless barge terminals, mooring structures, power plants, bridges, sheet pile walls, and docks that he worked on during the course of his career. However, his reputation—developed through his interactions with others—may have made the largest impact on Nelosca.

Jim shared his positive attitude, expertise, and kindness with everyone. He retired in 2011, but his great reputation remains well-known throughout the company. 

In 2019, at our 100-year celebration, we named a new towboat after Jim, in his honor, recognizing his dedication and tremendous contributions to our organization.

When asked about how he would describe his career at Nelosca, Jim’s answer reflected his infectious, positive attitude:

“From my viewpoint, excellent. I liked to get around to the different towns, met a pile of nice guys working with Nelosca. I was always treated good.
What better could you want?”

From all of us at Nelosca, Jim, thank you!