Don’t Mine
Our Water
This
tapestry, 5th in the series of 13 tapestries planned for the North
Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center, describes events between 1975 and 1997 on
the San Juan Ridge. During these years there were a number of attempts at gold
mining in an old Diggings near North Columbia. The community-organized San Juan Ridge Taxpayers Association
led the resistance against these mining efforts.
Some of the proposed mines were open pit
mines, one tunneled deep into the gravels. In order to tunnel, millions of gallons of groundwater a day
were pumped out to dewater the gravels.
The water well
for Grizzly Hill School dried up along with many other wells in the
neighborhood. The miners dug new
wells, but the new wells were many times deeper, required more expense to pump
and the water was undrinkable.
Grizzly Hill School has had to buy bottled water for more than 10 years.
Community
members researched mining issues, the effects on groundwater, the creeks, the
ecosystem, and the effects of dust and other types of mining pollution. Internal coordination was by a phone
tree. The Taxpayers Association raised money for experts and lawyers by holding
auctions and poetry readings. The Association coordinated with other
neighborhood groups in the County, and gave testimony at public meetings.
In 2012, a
new dewatering mine was proposed.
