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POST OFFICE BOX 518 <br />SOMERSET, CO 81434 <br />(303)929-5775 <br />1 ' <br />RECEIVED <br />February oz, 2ooa FEB 02 2004 <br />Ms. Sandra Brown <br />Division of Minerals and Geology <br />1313 Sherman St., Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />Division of Minerals d Geology <br />RE: Bear Number 3 Mine <br />Dear Ms. Brown: <br />On November 21, 2003, the Division of Minerals and Geology requested information <br />concerning a possible outcrop or coal seam fire located at the old Bear #3 Mine location. <br />Please find enclosed materials that could possibly help with the location and the source of <br />this fire. <br />In reseazching old records and documents it is very evident that there was a fire long <br />before Bear Coal started it's mining operations in 1982, at this mine site. On July 6, 1958, <br />J.J. Roddy, District Coal Mine Inspector, received notification of a fire in the B seam <br />workings at the Clark Mine. Mr. Roddy's report pointed out poor conditions in the out by <br />azeas from the fire, which made it impossible to find the exact location of the fire. Seals <br />were constructed in hopes of depriving the fire of oxygen, but according to Mr. Roddy, <br />previously installed stoppings were crushed out by these poor conditions making the <br />possibility that seals were going to be crushed out in time. <br />According to a letter from H.B. Lindeman, of the U.S. Geological Survey, to Mr. Paul <br />Clazk, President of Clark Coal, Mr. Lindeman believed that loose coal lying in the <br />unventilated azeas of the mine most likely caused the spontaneous combustion of the coal <br />and thus starting a mine fire. Again, it was pointed out that the seals that had been <br />constructed very well might have been crushed out allowing oxygen back into the fire <br />azea. <br />Since these seals were installed near the portals of the B seam, Clazk started mining <br />activities in the overlying C Seam. Shafts were installed from the C to B seams so the <br />coal being mined in the C seam could exit the mine from the B seam portals. Bear Coal <br />did seal at least one of these shafts during the clean up of the old workings of the Clazk <br />Mine. <br />