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APE. -.l~ 4iiP1i1N1 i; dl ri'RIi;HT 1taTER ~ TEL ;ii; d80 li1]ii <br />Ms. Kathy Welt <br />April 17, 1995 <br />Page 2 <br />badger hole. Lacking a tape or long stick, i dropped small rocks into the <br />hole and estimated it to ba 15 feet deep. Except for that hole, the portion <br />of the crack which was 5 feet unde ranged from 2 to 5 feet in depth. The <br />wide portion of the crack appeared almost as if a small block between two <br />cracks bad settled as the cracks healed. <br />P no; <br />Dead'oushes, vegetation, and condition of the sort indicated the crack probably occurred <br />two, to as much as, five years ago. Soil that sloughed from the steep banks and into the <br />crack appeared [o be healing it. Mr. Every's report of his March 22, 1995 revisit of the <br />crack would indicate it has not opened farther and continues to heal. <br />On a westward horizontal and downward vertical projection of the crack, we found an <br />open vertical joint extending the frill thickness (12 to 15 feet) of the lower sandstone cliff. <br />This joint had been opened some 12 to l6 inches. The crack, which at one time had bee^ <br />1/4 to 3/8 inches wide, had been filled with crystalline calcite (?) mineral. More recent <br />movement pulled one side of the joint away from the mineral tilling. <br />We saw no evidence that the crack continued downward into the shales, silts ones, and <br />thin sandbeds beneath the massive cliff-forming sandstone. Dtuing dre slope ascent. 1 <br />several times unknowingly traversed a projection of the crack and did not see any cracks. <br />At that time, we were trncertain of the exact location of the crack and were looking for <br />it. On the descent of the hill, I specifically looked for a downwazd projection of the <br />crack, but did not see any. <br />The subject crack is the widest that 1 have seen in any subsidence area I have visited. Mr. <br />Rich Dunrud, when hearing [he description and examining the available photos: said it <br />was wider than any he had seen in tus extensive subsidence research in the North Fork <br />Valley. <br />I believe a review of the mining history of that location explains the reason for [he cracks <br />size and location. I might add [hat Mr Dunrud agrees with the Yollowing explanation. <br />In mid-1990, MCC room-and-pillar mined [he F-Seam in Section 20 up to within <br />approximately 125 feet of the Section 17/Section 20 line. Earlier, Bear Coal Company <br />had room-and-pillar mined the C-Seam in Seclion 20 up to u~thin 400 feet of the Section <br />17 south line, Bear Coal also room-and-pillar mined the C-Seam and the B-Seam ro the <br />north in Section 17. The $- and C-Seam room-and-pillar mining extended to within 700 <br />feet of the Section 17 south line At the time of our September 1994 visit, Beaz Coal's <br />B-Seam Third West Matn, along the south boundary of Section 17, had not yet been <br />pillazed and thus, had not subsided. Pillars were recovered by Bear Coal from that main <br />in February 1995. Dlr. Every's March 22, 1995 visa did not note any apparent <br />