Laserfiche WebLink
EXHIBIT B—SITE DESCRIPTION <br /> The Howard Creek Pit is located app. 3.1 miles west of the intersection of US Highway <br /> 50 and Howard Creek Road (County Road 4), in western Fremont County. The proposed <br /> pit lies along Howard Creek, a drainage of the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo <br /> Mountains at an elevation of 7800 feet. Howard Creek drains into the Arkansas River in <br /> the unincorporated community of Howard, 114 mile east of the intersection of Highway <br /> US 50 and CR4. The mountainous terrain along Howard Creek reflects a high degree of <br /> relief with man made and natural occurring vertical rock faces several hundred feet high <br /> visible from the proposed mining area. Nearly vertical dipping limestone beds <br /> outcropping along Howard Creek were mined from the early 1900's until 1950's. The <br /> steep slopes surrounding the drainage are heavily forested with Douglas fir, Rocky <br /> Mountain juniper, Pinon pine, and Ponderosa pine, with well developed stands of <br /> Cottonwoods along the creek. The Fremont County Soil Survey has mapped a Rentsac <br /> very channery loam at this site, a shallow, well drained soil found on mountainsides <br /> derived from limestone bedrock. The average annual precipitation is between 11-15 <br /> inches. While the thin native soils are found on grades from 20 to 55 percent, the <br /> proposed mining area(s) are relatively flat since they are waste dumps built down grade <br /> from the limestone mining pits created by the removal of vertical dipping limestone beds <br /> 50 feet to 100 thick and up to several hundred feet above the pit floor elevations. The <br /> waste material is limestone fines and rock fragments with minor amounts of volcanic <br /> rock, green rhyolite. While little soil development has occurred in the fifty year span of <br /> time since the dumps were constructed, the surface of the dumps have reforested quite <br /> well due to the relatively damp, cool, environment with plenty of seed sources from the <br /> nearby heavily forested slopes. However,the outslopes of the waste dumps have neYer <br /> Stabilized since placement at angle of repose ands_ ow evidence of rilling and slope, <br /> failure during storm events. Tf ese unstable outslopes of the old waste dumps will <br /> become working faces for road material extraction operations. <br /> The Howard Creek Pit is located at the site of a limestone mining operation waste <br /> dump(s)placed along the south bank of Howard Creek during the early 1900's. The <br /> town site of Calcite is less than '/< mile east of the permit area. No buildings or historic <br /> structures remain. This small mining district and community once supplied high calcium <br /> carbonate rock for CF&I steel production. Mining was performed by hand working (drill <br /> and blast) surface outcrop of nearly vertical dipping limestone beds for up to several tens <br /> of yards above the original roadways. It appears that waste removal was minimal and <br /> highly dependent on manpower for loading and transport. Waste material including fines <br /> and rock fragments up to 12" appear to have been carted or possibly railed a short <br /> distance from a few feet to up to 1000 feet down grade of the limestone face. The waste <br /> dump is composed of limestone fines and limestone rock fragments up to 12" with a <br /> minor amount of rhyolitic volcanic rock. A large (100' wide and 50' tall)exposed and <br /> eroding face of the waste dump can be viewed at the entrance to the site at CR4 and <br /> Canterbury Ranch Road. <br /> 3 <br />