Stimulus money could fund Longfellow cleanup

The historic Longfellow Stamp Mill and mine are on Bureau of Land Management property and may receive economic stimulus funds for cleanup. Amy Alonzo Rozak/The Union Democrat, copyright 2009

 The economic stimulus bill contains more than $1.5 billion for the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service — some of which is earmarked to address pollution and safety hazards caused by abandoned mine sites on public land.
 

The stamp mill, scorched by fire about 13 months ago, and a mound of tailings directly behind the mill that leads to the mine, are on BLM property.

“We have included it in the projects to be dealt with under stimulus funding,” said Tim Carroll, BLM geologist.

Carroll said the bureau is required to spend the money by October 2010.

The mine was once considered the most productive gold mine in southern Tuolumne County. It has a long history dating back to the early Gold Rush days to the middle of the 20th century. But as many productive mine sites from the Gold Rush, it left a severe footprint of pollution that could be leaking into drinking water.

“Sampling of water and sediment at these sites indicates substantial amounts of mercury or arsenic are present in sluice tunnel floor sediments and mill tailings,” says a 2006 closure notice of the Longfellow Mine and mill site, plus five other mine sites in Amador, Placer, Nevada and Tuolumne counties.

“Shafts and tunnel inlets/outlets are also present at these sites,” the report continues. “These conditions represent significant health and physical safety hazards to the public.”

Results of a State Water Resources Control Board study on mercury levels of fish in California lakes found unsafe levels of mercury in large-mouth bass in Don Pedro Reservoir.

The mercury found in the fish is probably a result of California’s mining legacy, the study said.

Marc Fossum, president of the Southern Tuolumne County Historical Society, hypothesized that much of the mercury is coming from the Longfellow Mine.

“It all leaches down into Rattlesnake Creek, Grizzly Gulch and into Don Pedro Reservoir,” he said.

Fossum also has other motives. He would like to see the stamp mill, which has been corroding in the elements since the fire, turned over to the historical society so it can be preserved and displayed.

“We’d gladly take it,” he said.