Credit Interested Party Larry Kurtz with this scoop: an old mining slag pile on the edge of Deadwood has collapsed into Whitewood Creek. Kurtz appears to have alerted local law enforcement and Game Fish and Parks officials about the slag slide on Saturday. Kurtz reported that the slag initially dammed Whitewood Creek. Department of Environment and Natural Resources engineer Mike Cepak says the slag slide never fully blocked the creek. The glassy material, made from molten rock poured out of the Golden Reward smelter around a century ago, is sufficiently porous to allow water to flow through the slide, and the creek has apparently cut a "notch" through the debris. However, the slag has slowed creek flow.
RCJ's Kevin Woster and BHP's Jacy Conrad Pearson have since picked up the story. Both newspaper stories carry assurances from the DENR that the water flowing out of the slag slide looks cleaner than the water upstream. DENR took water samples Monday and will have results within a couple weeks.
Pearson reports that the City of Deadwood is more concerned about possible flooding than pollution. Deadwood public works director J.R. Raysor sees another crack in the pile where the slag fell and expresses concern that more debris could fall. If more slag does drop into the creek, water could back up into Deadwood. Then Deadwood will have to decide if it's easier to hand out waders at the casinos or break out the backhoes.
If the slag slide does need to go, we may see an interesting game of "Not it!" on who picks up the tab:
"It's right on the city line, even though it's outside the city proper," Raysor said. "Although technically it's in the city, the creek belongs to the federal government and is managed by the DENR....
As far as clean-up goes, Deadwood Mayor Francis Toscana said the city has no responsibility to do so.
"I've taken the necessary precautions, asked the DENR to investigate, made sure that no residents or facilities were in jeopardy. Beyond that, we have no responsibility to clean this up. There's nothing here that belongs to us, it just happens to be on city property," Raysor said.
...City officials made a call to the landowner, Gary Schmaltz, from whose parcel of land the slag sloughed.
"He said that the part that fell off doesn't belong to him," Raysor said. "That he didn't put it there" [Jacy Conrad Pearson, "Tons of Slag Sloughs into Whitewood Creek," Black Hills Pioneer, 2011.10.06].
Deadwood neighbors, keep an eye on the water level and the old mining debris above... and keep those shovels handy!
Related: Kurtz provides some history on the mining debris.
i confess to not having seen this post until now, Cory. Thank you.
Thank you, Larry, for getting the word out in the first place!
ping.