GENERAL39079

• Permit No: M1977211
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 6/25/2001
• From: US DEPT OF AGRICULTURE
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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Pikeview Quarry Environmental Assessment
Page 41
In the 1890's Colorado Springs found that it was surrounded by more than scenic
wealth. Gold was discovered in Cripple Creek in 1891 and Colorado Springs found itself a
thriving financial center. The golden yeazs -asted until 19] 7 when the economy shifted back
to tourism.
With the City looking to expand its economic basis, land was first sold to the military
in 1942 with the start of W WII. In the following three decades the military began to play an
increasing role in the economy as their presence expanded to include the Air Force
Academy, Peterson Air Force Base, North American Aerospace Defense Command at
Cheyenne Mountain, Fort Carson, and the Schriever Air Force Base. Materials from the
Pikeview Quarry were largely used in the construction of the Air Force Academy located
north of the city of Colorado Springs and west of the Interstate Highway 25.
Manufacturing expanded significantly in the 1960's and 1970's as the area's quality of
life and cost advantages were recognized. Today, computers, electronic equipment,
semiconductors, precision parts, plastics, heavy equipment and countless other products are
manufactured in the region. In addition, several service industries are expanding within the
region. For example, Colorado Springs is home to the headquarters of the United States
Olympic Training Center and other stadiums, gymnasiums, pools, and rinks.
' The Pikeview Quarry currently employs 20 to 25 employees and produces, in average,
1,115,000 tonslb of limestone per year. Nearly all of the material mined at the quarry
consists of limestone. Sporadically crushed granite is sold for road base, but the quantities
' of granite are negligible when compared to the main product. The Pikeview Quarry
supplies 90% of the limestone produced in the region delimited by Castle Rock (North),
Divide (West), Calhan (East), and Midway (South). In addition, Pikeview Quarry's
' limestone is considered of high quality compared to other alternative sources of limestone in
the region.
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3.4.4 Visual Resources
The drainage th the area where the quarry is located has four main features:
1) the mountainous landscape to the west (National Forest System land);
2) the flat and urbanized landscape to the east;
3) Interstate I-25, which runs north-south parallel to the foothills, on the eastern side; and
4) the Pikeview Quarry, located on the western side of the plains.
The quarry currently occupies 210 acres (permitted area), and mining operations
consumed most of the side of the mountains, so that there are currently very steep and
unstable slopes of raw, unvegetated, decomposed granite and limestone all the way up the
mountain to the permit boundary. All along the top of the cut bank to the west is a mature
stand of trees on Forest Service land. Some parts of the mine (southwest), which
16 Average 1995-1999 production.
Hydrosphere Resource Consultants, 1002 Walnut Street Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302
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