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Mr. William C. York-Feirn 2 <br /> Hill Ventures' Public Service Company power bills over the last four years will support this <br /> very obvious fact. <br /> Mr. Freirich described the water levels in the creek as being "high enough that my <br /> neighbors were concerned that if the water level continued to increase, the creek might <br /> overflow its banks." He stated that in his opinion, "A simple break in a pumping line would <br /> probably not account for that quantity of water." Since he is correct in his opinion regarding <br /> how a simple break in the pumping line would not account for the quantity of water that he <br /> observed, I would like to confirm that there were no breaks of any kind in the Cash mine <br /> pumping line during the period in question. In fact, all of the Cash mine water lines are 2 <br /> inches in diameter from the pump in the shaft up to the Hazel A and Wynona mines. Even if <br /> they did break, the volume of water that Mr. Freirich has claimed to observe and attributes to <br /> the Cash mine operation could not have come from the 2 inch water line. The same fact <br /> applies to any discharge of any nature from the Cash mine's water line. There is simply no <br /> way that the Cash mine pump and water line could possibly produce the volume of water that <br /> Mr. Freirich reported on July 1, and October 25, 1991. Aside from the October 25, 1991 <br /> discharge, all of the water Mr. Freirich has been concerned with can be directly attributed to <br /> natural drainage. <br /> Any honest observer of the amount of water run-off during the period in question will <br /> confirm that last Spring and early Summer were seasons of unusually high snowmelt and rain <br /> water run-off. There have also been many, many periods of precipitation on the higher <br /> altitudes at the top of Horsfal Flat where the Gold Hill Mill is located at 8,600 feet, that did <br /> not fall directly on Summerville at 7,360 feet. In the thirty-three years that the Steen family <br /> has owned property in the Gold Hill mining district, we have had many occasions to observe <br /> the way the weather affects this part of the Front Range. During the last eleven years, when I <br /> have most frequently been in this area, I have observed rain and snow falling at the Gold Hill <br /> Mill and the Cash mine while it was sunny and bright down in Summerville. I have also <br /> observed the reverse situation, with Summerville cloaked in rain or snow, and the sun shining <br /> at the Gold Hill Mill and the Cash mine. Rapidly changing weather conditions are a typical <br /> situation in this area. This is something I have witnessed hundreds of times. It is simply <br /> typical Colorado Front Range weather. This precipitation accumulates in the large meadow <br /> above the Cash mine and it flows downhill in Cash Gulch towards Summerville. It probably <br /> takes several hours for this precipitation to collect and flow from Horsfal Flat to Summerville. <br /> Water flows down Cash Gulch in the morning, during the afternoon, and at night. It is natural <br /> water drainage. On more than one occasion, during the many years that the Steen family has <br /> owned our property above Summerville, extremely large quantities of water have coursed <br /> down Cash Gulch through Summerville. This natural water run-off drainage has nothing to do <br /> with the Cash mine pump being on or off. <br /> Mr. Freirich is concerned about the quality of the local water supply. He has a well <br /> that is only 13 feet deep and situated within 40 feet of the creek that runs through <br /> Summerville. At least six mine portals not owned by Gold Hill Ventures are located below the <br />