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III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~ <br />999 <br />LOCAL NEWS <br />THURSDAY, IANUARY 28, 1999 <br />SECTION <br />Somerset <br />coal mine <br />sealed off <br />By AARDN PDRfER <br />Ire Dary 5mtmd <br />Tower named for <br />~ n ro ect , longtime museum <br />p fnend Sterlin Smith <br />The tower opening signified, among a lot of <br />things. a bit of vindirat ion. <br />" Everybody in rovm thought it was unnec <br />and essary to build it but ana you get up there i[ <br />nitage sure changed some people's minds,"$muh <br />uu said. "It is a fabulous view." <br />The lower, the tiptopmost part of which <br />utl~ reaches lS feet in the air, started oRas nolh~ <br />her mg more than an elevator shag that had rotor <br />use astory higher than the existing C.D.Smuh <br />.there buildm6 at FUlh Street and Ute Avenue. <br />Jn1Y Smith. though,smd he wanted more than an <br />nd he arohitecnu'al oddity adorningaromer ofwhat <br />mint is ru become the museum, w he pushed the no- <br />mrJ in Icon ul'huddmgatmver from which much oC <br />the valley could be seen. <br />frogs Actually. he did more thon push the idea <br />`I just decWed to ^nance the lower;' he <br />said. <br />And so he did, spending almost halfa mB~ <br />lion dollars of hisown money on the museum <br />and especially his pet Dreject the tower. <br />That it is rosting the museum and the tax <br />payers nothing "is something I'm awfully <br />proud o[," he said. <br />The museum paid separately for the eleva~ <br />tor, which was required [o make the building <br />accessible to the handicapped, and used <br />5300,000 in Energy Impact F7ind money on that <br />project. <br />TheC D. Smith Co, was started by S[erlinb s <br />father, C.D., who staved his rnmpany with <br />55,0110 borrowed to purehbse a drug stare m <br />Fifth and hfain streets. At its heyday, the com~ <br />See1OWEA, PaRa 50 > <br />SOMERSET -Reclining against component of the mine's <br />the bar in The Portal Bar and Grin, environment. <br />Martin Brezonick gazed out the win "Carbon monoxide usually roar <br />dow, recalling years of sweaty laWr rates au incomplete lire," yfnght <br />in the Sanborn Creek Aline across said. 'Once we found high levels of <br />the street. carbon munoxule, we had no chmce. <br />"Thal mine's been the livelihood We evacuated the mine and started <br />of this town far years;' Brezonick closing the portals. If ue err. x~e <br />said grWlly. wool to erron the side of;afety.' <br />TTe Sanborn Creek Aline has Oxbow sealed aU five portals to <br />yielded a steady supply of coal and the mme with compacred Airt on <br />jobs here for Wednesday. Otli <br />years, but Oxbow curls hope In keep <br />Mining Inc. rem- "Once we found high levels oxygen from em <br />porerRy shut o(carhon monoxide, teeing the mute, <br />down opeations allaw~ng the pns- <br />Tuesday after de slUle Gee to burn <br />tecting smoke in We had nO choice." itseg out, Wright <br />its deepest dram- said. <br />WALT WRIGHT <br />lRrs. Residents Sanborn Creek <br />here have weath- SaODOm Creek MIOe managef Mine emits high <br />erect accaztonal <br />accidents and layoffs in North Fork <br />area mines for years, yet concern <br />germinates N the wake o[ the <br />shutdown. <br />"Of rnutse, !'m worried about it." <br />said Becky Lowe, owner of The P~r- <br />tal. "TTatS my bread and hurter " <br />Aliners detteted unusually high <br />levels of carbon monoxide in the em <br />[rtes of the "bleeders." in ouc sec <br />[Ion of the mme, said m ine tnattager <br />Walt Wright Bleeders act as a venti~ <br />lotion system todmw gases hour the <br />mining area. <br />All ~7 under6TCUnd miners were <br />evacuated immediately, he said <br />None were mpmed. <br />Oxbow uRitmis arc uncermin <br />what may have carved the high tar <br />two monoxtAe levels. and whether <br />coal is even burning, l4right sod. <br />The miners o'eru unable to see <br />Ramer. he vul, anJ lunued :unoums <br />of carbon monoxide is a common <br />levels of tneth- <br />ane,creating apotentially explosive <br />envvnnment thin makes RreRght~ <br />ing itnDOssible. <br />U.S. Aline Safety and Health Ad~ <br />minisinnon odicials are working <br />with OxMw In moniror the mine <br />atmosphere through the seals <br />Hmv long the shutdown will Imt <br />is uncenuin. 14nght said. O~6mv <br />must wait unul carbon nmuondu <br />levels drop. ar until the posslBle fun <br />horns itself nut :user using up Ihr <br />mines limned oxygen xgtph•. hr <br />said. <br />Like his faher Moore hurt, the <br />nowreured Bmmnick worked m <br />the 47~year old none for rear The <br />mine's only other tiro entpteA while <br />ovenal bl' :uunher cumpmty sacetal <br />decades ago. he paid. <br />"They staled It nlT and m,muBe'1 <br />to snunher the fu'c;' Ba•z,nuck ~md. <br />Sze MIME page 50 > <br />lLL 1111 V 11.1 I T /\ T T /~ T 1• ~I <br />DFAR NUMPXREY/Ihe Dairy Sentinel <br />Irom the Sterling T. Smith Educational Tower at the Museum of Wtslem D0102d0 Wednesday. The 125~toot <br />