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from various areas of the mine. Appazently these seals did not completely seal off either water or <br />~ methane under pressure because water was observed draining from the Oliver No. 2 Mine in the <br />eazly 1970's and the methane was detected with a methanometer above the portal area (Dunrud <br />] 976, p.33). Although no water was observed in the Oliver No. 2 portal area during a field <br />inspection in October 1996, water may be flowing beneath the road grade of State Highway 133. <br />According to Bob Barrett, Grand Junction District Geologist for the Colorado Department of <br />Transportation (CDOT), a drainage system (cobble and geotechnical fabric) was installed within the <br />drainage area of the unnamed drainage west of Box Canyon to channel the numerous springs that <br />were encountered during highway construction in 1980 (oral communication, Bob Barrett to John <br />Rold, November 14, 1996). The springs encountered during construction of Highway 133 aze <br />thought to reflect flows emanating from the Oliver No. 2 Mine. <br />In addition to observations of flows from the Oliver No. 2 Mine' portal in the 1970s, additional <br />observations were made regarding surface flows in the Sylvester Gulch drainage. One particular <br />observation, (Bill Beaz oral communication, 1972) was that there was a substantial decrease in <br />surface flow (and dewatering of a beaver pond) from the first east fork of Sylvester Gulch above its <br />confluence with the North Fork. There has been speculation that this apparent decrease in flow was <br />the result of Oliver No. 2 mining activities, however, the reporteddecrease in the flow during the <br />1970s is puzzling for two reasons: , <br />1. The healing and sealing potential for stream channels discussed in Section 2.05.6 conflicts <br />with short-term stream diversion not to mention stream diversion after 20 years; and <br />• 2. No water was observed upstream from the azea where the beaver ponds were located, <br />beyond where the Oliver No. 2 mining could have had an impact. Consequently, there was <br />not a perennial flow for the beaver habitat in the canyon when Mr. Dunrud observed the <br />beaver ponds in the mid-1970s. It is not known what happened to the source of water to the <br />beaver ponds; the beaver had already moved out. ' <br />MCC now owns the water right to the first east fork of Sylvester Gulch-the water right previously <br />owned by the Bear family. Therefore, the puzzling decrease in flow (perhaps the flow was <br />intercepted by a permeable formation or natural fractures exposed, by stream erosion) should only <br />concern the current owner of the water right. <br />Methane Concentrations in the Oliver No. 2 Portal Area <br />Methane was also encountered in the portal area of the Oliver iNo. 2 Mine during exploration <br />drilling for the State Highway 133 roadbed. Boyd Emmons, State Coal Mine Inspector, stopped <br />drilling in one hole north of the Oliver No. 2 portal when 100 percent methane was detected. It was <br />14 to 15 days before CDOT could remove steel from orie hole (Boyd Emmons, Oral <br />Communication, November 6, 1996). According to Emmons, meth, ane still is likely to be present in <br />the roadbed. <br /> <br />2.05-128 March 2005PR// <br />~,I~ o~ <br />