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Investigation into Continued Damage at the Solitario Ranch Page 6 Mine Flooding in the 1N Section ~ Mine flooding that created a soft or muddy bottom, or mine floor, occurred in the \ 1N entry, which used a room and pillar mining system, the final mine survey was not completed in the Entry 7 (6/20/88) because the surveyors could not reenter the area. The entire 1N entry was closed and marked as flooded on the MHSA report map.10 Other Information Other information concerning the mine was determined by conversations with Basin personnel or from reading depositions. One item of importance was the fact of a mine explosion in the mine section NW#1, across the highway from the Tatum house. This occurred on February 27, 1991 and was confirmed during a telephone conversation with a Mine Health and Safety Inspector. Previous Observations In addition to those items that were discussed in the reports and memos, it was noted that there was soil movement along the tracks, in which the ballast separated from the ties. This occurred only in the zone over where underground mining had been conducted. It was observed by the investigator and documented by photographs. These photos were utilized during testimony at the trial. The kinds of soils that are found in this valley will tend to flow into low points and it is probable that the material from the hillside began to flow back into the low spot as found in the Mincic survey. This action would be similar to the phenomenon noted at York Canyon", and in fact occurred in the healing of the subsidence cracks observed above the NW#1 entry; This same type of soil movement is common all over Colorado. There is a soil or slump failure that can be observed along the railroad tracks just to the south of the subsidence measuring station 1N-1. A flow of soils, as at York Canyon would account for the apparent recovery of the elevations of the monuments as noted in the Basin survey in 1995. There has been no data to indicate that the coordinates of these stations have been remeasured for horizontal displacement since 1993. An interesting suggestion by an investigator for the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division, based on other studies that have been made, is that the failure may have been triggered by seismic events in the neighboring coal mines. The mine explosion on February 27,1991 was in exactly the same time frame as the initial damage to the house. There may have been other similar events that have not been documented.12 There have been many opinions expressed as to the cause of the failure to the Tatum house, other than coal mining, but none of these have explained why the house would suddenly fail after it has stood for over 60 years without a problem. 10 Information obtained in depositions in preparation for the state court trial and maps submitted to the Mine Safety and Health Administration. (Mine Closure Map 2/26/96) "See Footnote 3 York Canyon Mine 'x Surface Subsidence Engineering, Syd S. Peng, 1992, Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. There are many other technical papers, and government studies that were used as references to the original reports that are not noted here. All available at the CSM Arthur Lakes library