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<br />• Castle Concrete in Classic Confrontaticln
<br />' (Centlnued From Pape Onal
<br />corresponding higher prices.
<br />Not all of the quarrying was'
<br />~ done by Castle.
<br />The Pikeview quarry, opened
<br />in 1905 by Holly Sugar Corp.,
<br />was used by Peter Kiewit &
<br />Sons from 1954 through 1957,
<br />and operated by the Colorado
<br />Lime Co. from 1958 to 7969.
<br />Contractors et Lhe Air Force
<br />Academy used limestone mate-
<br />rials for-more than 70 miles of
<br />road and for retaining walls, a
<br />power plant, enlisted men's
<br />quarters, part of the community
<br />center and plumbing and elec-
<br />trical projects.
<br />Road builders brought
<br />crushed stone for fiB under
<br />slabs and [or the approaches to
<br />the academy from the soon-to-
<br />be built Interstate 25.
<br />Local limestone was used at
<br />Fort Carson for the new motor-
<br />pool, post headquarters and
<br />roads in the non-commissbned
<br />officers housing area.
<br />Fort Carson contractors used
<br />more than 1,000 tons for paving
<br />i What Is now the north en-
<br />trance interchange to the acade
<br />my once was the site of a crom•
<br />' munity called Husted.
<br />That almost deserted settle
<br />ment was taken out and re~
<br />placed by the interchange,
<br />which included some 15,000 tons
<br />of Queens Canon aggregate.
<br />The U.S. Bureau of Publir
<br />Roads was so pleased with that
<br />work at the academy that iti
<br />specified limestone be used fory
<br />the base of I-25 and eventually
<br />some 100,000. tons were laid
<br />down for the new freeway.
<br />Wherever rnncrete is poured
<br />there is a need for aggregate,
<br />and, further, cement is made
<br />from limestone.
<br />The Colorado Division o[
<br />Mines 1977 report showed limes-
<br />tone mined in F.l Paso County
<br />in 1976 was valued at $L.595,544.
<br />Protesters don't deny the eco-
<br />nomic value of the quarry oper-
<br />ations, but they are angry ;:bout
<br />the raw rock left to face the
<br />',community as the mining goes
<br />Two groups protesting are the
<br />Brings Area Beautiful Associ-
<br />ion ' (SPABAI and Citizens
<br />oats for Colorado Springs.
<br />oey want the raw rock cov-
<br />ed with vegetation.
<br />And that is not a new goal. In
<br />prig 1965 the Colorado Springs
<br />ity Caundl objected to the
<br />rre rock slopes and asked the
<br />ureau of Land Management tc
<br />iLhdraw part of the land it
<br />~ntrols between the Air Force
<br />cademy and Cheyenne Moun-
<br />in from mining claims.
<br />That didn't happen, but Castle
<br />end the Fountain Soil Con-
<br />servation District issued a joint
<br />statement in Mey which said
<br />the district and tha company
<br />had ordered seed and Ponde-
<br />rosa seedlings and estimated
<br />the first replanting would be in
<br />October and completed by 1973.
<br />Castle agreed to pay the costs
<br />for work to be done under su-
<br />pervision of federal soil con-
<br />servalion spedelists.
<br />C. H. Batley, then vice presi-
<br />dent of the rnmpany, estimated
<br />the program would cost the
<br />company about 550,000. The
<br />company planned then (19671 to
<br />be quarrying about seven orj
<br />eight mote years.
<br />Batley was quoted as saying
<br />then that, "We are determined
<br />to restore this site consistent
<br />with our original plans.
<br />"From now on the visible por-
<br />tion of the quarry will became
<br />'smaller and smaller as we con-
<br />tinue to plant the trees, attrttbs
<br />'and grass.
<br />"Our plan is to have this res-
<br />toration process keep pace with
<br />the removal of minerals 1n the
<br />.._-.„
<br />Nothing much came of that.
<br />Then a local civic organiza-
<br />~ion decided to help out, promis-
<br />ing la get reforestration going.
<br />fn November 1973, Don Bates,
<br />president a[ the Westside Rota-
<br />ry Club, declared that on Arbor
<br />Day the following year (April
<br />191, reforestration of Queens
<br />Canon would begin.
<br />Said Bates: Starting at the
<br />top of the quarry, which al-
<br />ready has been terraced and
<br />;rased by Castle Concrete, we
<br />will start planting a total of 30,-
<br />J00 potted trees."
<br />But making things grow on
<br />bare rock on man's impatient
<br />timetable may be something
<br />like trying to grow hair on a
<br />bald man's head.
<br />Dick Beidleman, a local envi-
<br />ronmentalist and college profes-
<br />sor who has been in the middle
<br />of the long dispute, said that
<br />Utere was a 90 percent death
<br />rate for the trees. But that
<br />could have been avoided, he
<br />if planting had been done In
<br />a scientific way, with some ex-
<br />certise, the survival rate would
<br />have been higher."
<br />He claims Castle really is not
<br />interested in revegetation.
<br />They've got same grass and
<br />some weeds and a few trees
<br />growing up there. ff they had
<br />made a commitment ]0 years
<br />ago they would have something
<br />growing up there now to show
<br />[or (heir effort."
<br />Castle is represented here by
<br />the law firm of Evans and
<br />iBriggs. G. Scott Briggs told the
<br />Gazette Telegraph earlier this
<br />month that complete vegata-
<br />live cover is not needed, in our
<br />opvdon, to rgblend the Castle
<br />'extractive sites into the Front
<br />~Ranae facade."
<br />Protests about the scars have
<br />gone lc. the slate and federal
<br />government.
<br />In St156, then Gov. Steve
<br />McNichols was asked ~ to inter•
<br />vane. He said he would not get
<br />into the controversy, explaining
<br />that the operation was a private
<br />enterprise venture and he
<br />wasn't ]toing to have any part
<br />of trying: to shut down a legiti-
<br />mate business.
<br />Local leaders then took their
<br />protest to former Cov. Dan
<br />Thornton, who was believed to
<br />have direct access to President
<br />The m~rantains are under con-
<br />trol of tfie Department of Agri-
<br />culture as the parent organiza-
<br />tion of the U.S. Forest Service,
<br />and Ezra Ta[t Benson of Salt
<br />Lake Cilr was agriculture ser
<br />calory under the Cisenhower
<br />Thornton was then president
<br />of the Colorado Visitors Bureau,
<br />and the pest he could do was
<br />send a to egram to Benson.
<br />It also was signed by Colora-
<br />do Springs Mayor lr'red Sim-
<br />pson, Al G. Hill, president of
<br />.he Garden of the Gods Club.
<br />and Col. A. E. Stoltz, director of
<br />the Academy Construction
<br />Agency, the operation set up by
<br />the Department of Defense to
<br />supervise construction of the
<br />academy.
<br />The telegram asked that work
<br />stop because It was a great
<br />disturbanor and annoyance to
<br />ntizens atxi visitors;' and de-
<br />clared, "It would be defacing the
<br />beautiful mountain backdrop of
<br />U.S. Air Force Academy."
<br />Benson radioed to stop the
<br />Manitou :>prings Cily Council
<br />tried to stop mining by cutting
<br />ptf water supplies, and in 1971
<br />Colorado S,orings City Council
<br />gook up the same idea.
<br />The move tailed by a 4-9 vote.
<br />Councilman Laurence txhs,
<br />now mayor, was one at the four
<br />who voted a„ainst the tdea.
<br />Another councilman who
<br />voted to continue sale of water,
<br />and who rernalns active in poli-
<br />tics, was Bill Becker, now a
<br />member o` the Colorado House.
<br />A Manitou group went to
<br />court to stole mining in Snyder
<br />Quarry, and won an injunction,
<br />but that wa:; overtured by the
<br />Colorado Supreme Court.
<br />In the hearipg set for 9 a.m.
<br />today in the Centennial Build-
<br />ing, ?AO S. Cascade Ave., Caste
<br />is expected to tell the State
<br />Mined Land Reclamation
<br />Board that the protesters should
<br />join in supptrt of its requests
<br />for permits to continue oper-
<br />ations at all treee quarries.
<br />State law rrqulres restoration
<br />of the mined sues and Castle in-
<br />tends to obey the law, accrord-
<br />ing to Briggs.
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