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Yet, other aspects of the areas geology are more hazardous for the 21st century and are hidden beneath much of the areas development. Many of the nearby roads suffer from expansive soils of the Pierre Shale, an ancient marine deposit which causes the roads to rise and fall with, at times, surprising abruptness. Similar geology effects many of the neighborhood foundations and cement driveways built in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s with alarming cracks as they slide around on poorly mixed soil filled with bentonite and clay also from the Pierre shale and Piney Creek alluvium. Despite todays housing hazards, the front range geology has mostly benefited the local population during Colorado's early years. Coal mining warmed entire towns, fueled industry and jobs. Built along the coal bearing Laramie formation, many of the first mines were established in the late 1800s like the Lehigh Coal mine near Sedalia or the Mount Carbon and Satanic Coal mine in Morrison which opened in 1872, when steam trains were headed to the gold mines in the Rockies. However, east of the hogback on the plains near Littleton, a trio of later coal mines established in the 1920s and 1930s have a mixed record. They were called the Christensen Mine (later the Littleton Valley Mine or just Littleton Mine), the Unity Mine (later called the Economy Mine) and the Virginia Mine. These three mines sat just off South Kipling Avenue and near the appropriately named Coal Mine Avenue. Today, the mine sites are almost invisible, mainly flattened out parcels of dirt with a few sidewalks running through them. No mine structures remain and mapped mine and air shafts are filled and capped. However, despite the threat of subsidence and sinkholes, home builders dangerously constructed homes directly over one mine (Virginia coal mine) and on the edge of the other sites (Unity and Christensen), coming very close to building on hidden, underground and unknown mine shafts. Areas surrounding the mines are large housing developments with a maze of roads. Most material evidence of Littleton's coal mines have long been sold and carted off in foreclosures or "Sheriff sales." The mine shafts themselves have been mostly filled in, initially with mining debris and later re-filled and capped with cement. The small surrounding areas have become tiny open spaces, havens for jumping bikes, prairie dogs and dog walkers, and interesting spots to explore - just be aware! Not all the history was removed or buried, some of the early history still survives. In the 1990's, stacks of fire bricks remained at the site of the Unity/Economy and Christensen/Littleton Mines which ran from the 1920s into the early 1940s. The Laramie Formation, not only produced fossils and coal, but was also a major source of brick clay. Fire brick foundations at the Unity mine indicate there was a possible kiln near the mouth of the mine perhaps using the coal to manufacture more bricks or fire clay products. Or, more likely, the bricks, with their excellent insulating properties, were used to line the on site boilers and furnaces. Boilers and furnaces were used to generate steam and heat, which were essential for powering equipment and providing warmth for workers in the mine shafts. They also helped in the mining process with drilling and transporting materials. Some of the same type of bricks are found throughout the Christensen mine, including locally manufactured "Denver Fire Clay Company" and "GOLDEN" fire bricks (PDF). Also, red bricks for building homes and structures dotted the Christensen mine site, likely from the two cottages or boarding house also on the site. Individual railroad rails that once shouldered heavily laden coal carts stuck vertically out from submerged mine shafts at both sites.
Hand drawn technical schematics of the Christensen or Littleton mine indicates there was the typical mine infrastructure supporting the site including a garage, powder magazine, storehouse, fan house, office, boiler house, storage bins, scales, coal tipple with railroad tracks leading from the mine shaft, and the boarding house and two houses. On January 6, 1922, the Littleton Independent newspaper reported that:
That year, over 2,000 tons of coal was mined, with some years in the 1930s producing over 18,000 tons of coal being removed in one year. Advertisements promote a "good grade" of coal ready for pick-up at the mine or delivery through middle-men. The mine schematic shows a driveway circle in front of large coal bins at the base of the coal tipple which would have held coal of various qualities. Scales also stood near the office for weighing a truck load. According to an interview with Mr. Christensen, the former operator, "the mine contained 4 coal beds; the lowest bed pinched to 4 feet, swelled to 27 feet and averaged about 6 feet in thickness. The Thickness of the higher 3 beds were respectively 2 feet, 18 inches and a very light show. The coal was mined from a shaft that was 490 feet deep. The bed dipped nearly vertical for 700 feet and then flattened out. The best coal, found at depth was hard and had to be blasted, however blasting reduced the coal to slack and the price of slack coal was too low to allow profitable operation of the mine. After an accident in which two men were asphyxiated, the mine was closed; it became filled with water and has not been reopened." (p. 41 Geology of the Littleton Quadrangle Jefferson, Douglas and Arapahoe Counties Colorado)
Surface artifacts on the site affirms there was more than just mining at the site as broken dishes, pieces of large crock pots, delicate tea cups and flowery bowls once help feed hard working miners from the 1920s and 1930s. Some of the more identifiable shards were from a pair of blue plates with a Chinese flair of a willow tree, pagoda, small boat and other intricate designs. They were manufactured by Allertons Ltd. of England using the popular "Blue Willow" pattern, a ceramic transferware that dates from 1929 to 1942.
Near some of the dirt bike jumps and where the railroad rail pokes out of the ground, a three foot long, rusting steel girder with tightly spaced rivets, likely a remanent of the mine superstructure sits bent up and broken. Chunks of broken cement, likely from the mine's other structures get a second life reinforcing bike tracks and jumps. An area just above the rusty beam remains closed off with a chain link fence topped with barbed wire - is the site of an old mine sinkhole. Back in 1988, a 17 year old teenager walking through the prairie dog filled site found a large sinkhole eight feet wide, 25 deep and 30 feet wide at the bottom. Other kids explored the site behind the homes and word got out to one of the parents who notified the Jefferson County sheriffs department who notified the federal Office of Surface Mining. This sinkhole was apparently a repeat of a 1979 incident where a 100 foot deep sinkhole developed only 100 yards away. Unsuspecting homeowners living next to the open fields that once housed the coal mines have feared for their children's safety and even for the structural integrity of their homes. Both of the collapses were filled in and capped, but the unstable subterranean events freaked out residents who sued the homemakers after the first sinkhoke for not disclosing their proxmity to abandoned coal mines. 20 of the homeowners were awarded $220,000 in damages by a jury in 1986. Again, Looking at the hand drawn schematic of the mine, the collapses occurred near the first level of 1924 and 1925 diggings in sections on the south end of the mine near an air vent (or on the far right of the illustration).
Almost a decade earlier according to a Rocky Mountain News report on November 17, 1979, the Office of Surface Mining spent $138,000 to permanently cap the ventilating shaft of the Littleton (Christensen) Mine which was originally filled in 1937. Yet, several homeowners remained worried, especially the family whose child discovered an alarmingly deep abandoned mine at the nearby Virginia Mine shaft, 4 feet wide and 140 feet deep that "had caved in behind his house near Kipling Street and West Geddes Avenue ." Yet despite the danger, "The area adjacent to Stony Creek in which the shaft lies is designated to become a county park." "Old mine shafts, common in Boulder, Jefferson and Weld counties, were capped when the area was mined out in the 1930s. However, trash and wood, which eventually deteriorates and collapses, generally was used to cover the shafts." "The locations and likelihood of collapse of the Virginia and Economy sites aren't known." (11-17-79 RMN)
The abandoned Christensen/Littleton coal mine was not only prone to surprising sinkholes, but while it was active, miners had to avoid numerous cave-in areas and also suffer from long term health effects from exposure to mine dust which caused debilitating black lung disease. Many family trees have the life long coal miner from generations ago. These brave souls also worked in the trio of mines along Kipling's Laramie formation harvesting deposits of subbituminous coal, sometimes with deadly consequences. As mining became more difficult and sections harder to access, some areas of mines were closed off and new areas opened up. Many of the old sections became too dangerous to enter and repeated collapses would have occured. Often times cost cutting management ignored safety inspections and violations in an attempt to save a few bucks and working conditions declined. In one case at the Christensen Mine, a section of coal was ignited and burned for months producing deadly mine gases. Similarly, in 1933, disaster struck the mine. According to news reports, a portion of the mine in the older section had been burning for 11 months previous and mine inspectors ordered the area to be cemented off. Unfortunately, the shaft was never sealed and resulted in a buildup of toxic gas which overwhelmed two workers and eventually led to their their deaths. Heroic efforts were made to rescue the workers but they were too late. The bodies of Martin Kranledis, 44, of Littleton and Robert Boyle, 42 of Denver were rolled out in a mining cart by Denver Fire rescue squad No. 2. The December 3, 1933 Rocky Mountain News reported the first to die was Kranledis, "When he went down the mine shaft to oil machinery. Boyle died in an attempt to rescue his fellow workman, drove back by gas. The two men were overcome late Friday night and other miners and company officials made repeated attempts to rescue them, but were driven back by the deadly gas. Finally a Denver fire department rescue squad was called and, donning oxygen masks, then went into the dark interior of the mine and found the two bodies. Miner after miner had risked his life previously in attempts to rescue the men. The Littleton fire department also was called, but not until he Denver rescue squad arrived was anyone able to bring out the two corpses. Called negligence the inquest, held in a building near the mine, revealed that, Oct. 4, the state coal mine inspector had ordered the old workings where fire was burning to be blocked off with cement wall. The verdict of the coroner's jury blamed C. C. Daniels, S. K. Burnett and N. C. McCallum, directors of the company, for failure to carry out the safety instructions. It was declared that the directors "were negligent in not complying with the state coal mine inspector's instructions for permanent stopping of the shaft where the men met death.""
Soon after the deaths of the men on March 29, 1934, the Jefferson County Recorder listed the mine contents in a Sheriff’s sale which were to be sold off in a auction after a judgment against the Littleton Valley Coal Company. After more than a decade of producing coal the mine shut down. The list contained:
After the Christensen/Littleton coal mine closed down, the nearby Virginia mine was still producing coal. And it has also caused numerous headaches for homeowners.
"Some homeowners have contended that their homes were physically damaged by subsidence in the mine, and two families have moved away, said their attorney... A district court jury in March 1985 concluded that Sabinske and National Development were liable for the properties' loss in value because they sold the lots without telling buyers about the mine."
A couple of years later, according to the Jefferson County Republican, a fire had started in the mine in 1936. The paper recorded "A fire started by an unknown cause in the Unity mine on the property of Mrs. Ida Bailey Smith, was extinguished and the mine sealed up." The mine reopened in 1937 under new management and continued to produce coal up to 1940 under the Economy Coal Company and was then sold off in a chattel mortgage sale on "Saturday, June 21, 1941, at 10 o'clock A. M. at said Economy mine, offer the said mining machinery, tools, and equipment for sale at public auction to satisfy the indebtedness secured by said chattel mortgages." (Jefferson County Republican - 6/19/41) Decades later in 1985, residents near the Economy/Unity mine sued the same home builder that constucted homes near the Christensen Mine. According to a March 1, 1985 Rocky Mountain News report: "Twenty-eight homeowners in two subdivisions southwest of Denver have filed a lawsuit against the company that built the homes, claiming they were built in a "geologic hazard zone." The lawsuit, filed this week in Golden District Court, alleges that U.S. Home Corp. was negligent when it built the homes in the Westbury and Foothill Green South subdivisions near the inactive Economy Coal Mine in Jefferson County. It is seeking compensatory and punitive damages."
Finally, in 2018, builders learned from some of the developer mistakes and the county reinforced road construction over the Unity / Economy Mine tunnels during the westward extension of Coal Mine Avenue. According to a 9News report: "an engineer with the county’s highway department, the portion of Coal Mine Road that travels over the historic mine is essentially built like a bridge, with extra steel and concrete that would support traffic were the ground underneath the road to collapse. When the county extended the roadway, the developer who owns the plot of land there put plans on hold for a neighborhood above the mine area, according to the same engineer, because of concerns about subsidence. A golf course was built there instead. A developer who currently owns the property did a survey of areas that may be susceptible to subsidence, the traffic engineer told us. Any area with risk will be back-filled with concrete to prevent a potential collapse." After the extension was completed, developers were already eyeing the open field. Yet this time, before more homes went up adjacent to the mine, the developers performend an "in depth study" of the area and where subsidence was in evidence, they backfilled those areas and parts of the mine. It seems recent builders are learning, but it remains to be seen if the latest construction efforts will last without any subsidence. Nevertheless, with multiple subdivisions built near these trio of mines with extensive excavations, it is a matter of time before an abrupt sinkhole or massive cave in known as a "chimney collapse" will occur. Hopefully, it won't, but as one employee of the Office of Surface Mining put it, "When you create a big hole in the ground, sooner or later it will come up and get you." Coal mines have, and will, always be dangerous to operate and leave subterranean surprises. Likewise, even the nearby Satanic Coal mine in Morrison claimed the lives of 6 miners to the same fire damp coal gas or asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide gas in 1921. In 1933, the same mine, after a raging fire built up gas, literally blew up, sending the massive, 60 foot high tipple 20 feet in the air and collapsed 40 feet around the obliterated concrete shaft. After the first disaster, the mine was named the Blue Bird mine, but after the second, it was closed permanently. Again broad areas of subsidence remain in evidence at the site, and again, close to where new homes are being constructed. Hopefully, coal mines will just become a part of the past and perhaps in the future, less destructive and less polluting sources of energy will again be embraced. It would definitely save everyone from any more troublesome mines and we all could breath more easily.
Despite the challenges of living with abandoned coal mines, sink holes, expansive soils, frost heave, cracking driveways and foundations, the geology along the Front Range still remains world class. Take a day, travel through time and hike through the amazing Fountain Formations at Roxborough State Park and Red Rocks Park as well as the hundreds of dinosaur tracks and trackways at Dinosaur Ridge and the huge fossil walls at the Triceratops Trail in Golden. Just avoid any sinkholes.
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