Coal mines near Carson, N.D., will soon be gone
The Bismarck Tribune, N.D. --Dec. 28
A part of Grant County's history will be erased from the landscape this summer.
The abandoned mines are near Leith, southwest of Carson. They haven't been
active since the 1960s.
The Public Service Commission will take comments on their plans to reclaim
the old mines at 6 p.m. tonight at the Grant County Courthouse in Carson.
Mark Knell, environmental engineer for PSC, said landowners, who say the
sinkholes from underground mines and steep walls from strip mining are a hazard,
requested the reclamation.
The mines were locally known as the VanHouten, A.J. Lah and Kolbank mines,
Knell said.
Don Zeller, of Carson, said he remembers when nearly everyone used the chunky
lignite in home furnaces.
Occasionally, the lignite emitted its famous gassy smell, but for the most
part, it provided "good heat" he said.
Zeller said the VanHouten brothers of Lemmon, S.D., gave up mining when the
dirt above the coal, known as the overburden, got to be 60 feet thick.
After the coal supply was gone, people converted to a thick diesel fuel and
eventually to propane and electricity.
In Grant County, underground lignite mining was conducted from 1922 through
1941 and surface strip mining dates from the early '50s until 1965.
In those days, reclamation was not required by law, like it is today. Money
to reclaim old mines is available through a federal Abandoned Mined Lands
program, which assesses a tax on presently mined coal to take care of old land
disturbances.
Knell said the Grant County reclamation will encompass about 32 acres, half
underground and half surface strip mine.
The project is fairly small and should be done sometime next summer after the
bid process is complete.
Besides work near Leith, the PSC plans to continue filling in old underground
mine shafts around Zap and at Garrison, where the sinkholes are under streets
and residences.
-----
To see more of The Bismarck Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://bismarcktribune.com
(c) 2004, The Bismarck Tribune, N.D. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content,
contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213)
237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.