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Subsidence Evaluation For Exhibit 60 The Apache Rocks And The Box Canyon Mining Areas Page 21 • the deformed zone azound Mt. Gunnison might also contain increased methane where the coal is metamorphosed to a higher rank by the intrusive body. Greater quantities of water and methane may therefore be expected as coal is mined closer to Mt. Gunnison. 8.1 Water and Methane in fhe Oliver No. 2 Mine Because large quantities of water and methane were encountered while mining the E/DO-Seam in the Oliver No. 2 Mine, other sources may also be present in the Box Canyon mining area. In the report on the closure of the Oliver No. 2 Mine, lazge volumes of water and methane began to flow from fractures in the floor of the southernmost (top) entry of 6th East. The mine was evacuated and closed because the water and methane flowed in quantities too costly to control. This azea where the large outpouring of water and methane occurred is located about 300 feet south of entries of the South Mains that were not driven further, apparently because of roof control problems. Water and methane intrusions were also common at least three years before the mine closure. In a letter to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on January 25, 1950, the president of Calumet Fuel Company described the following conditions in the Oliver No. 2 Mine (unpublished letter written to BLM Director Marion Clawson by Claude P. Heiner, January 25, 1950): • 1. In October 1949, water seeped into the 3rd West entries from Sylvester Gulch, as the entries were driven beneath the gulch. The water sofrened the entry floors and caused the roof to swell and cave. Mining was halted because of mining problems (it became impossible to operate the mobile loaders and shuttle cars) and to protect the miners. 2. About this time, the south main, consisting of four entries, was driven southward in an attempt to tum off another set of entries either east or west. Sudden, large outflows of water and methane were encountered in the development entries. The volumes were large enough to force the company to remove the mobile loaders and shuttle cars and replace them with shaker conveyers in order to continue development. 8.2 Water and Methane Drainage After Oliver No. 2 Mine Closure Seals, consisting of a double row of cinder blocks, were installed 75 to 150 feet north of the northern entry of 1st West entries of the Oliver No. 2 Mine in December, 1953 (Boyd Emmons, oral communication, November 6, 1996). They were installed to seal off the water and methane coming from various areas of the mine. Apparently these seals did not completely seal off either water or methane under pressure because water was observed draining from the Oliver No. 2 Mine in the early 1970s and methane was detected with a methanometer above the portal area (Dunrud 1976, p. 33). Although no water was observed in the Oliver No. Z portal area during a 831-032.181 Wright Wa[er Engineers, Inc.