BUTTE — I already told you about a small sinkhole that opened on East Broadway earlier this week. Well, now, a second, much bigger sinkhole has opened on Butte’s west end.
“You’re going to hear it over and over, Butte’s built on 10,000 miles of underground mines, tunnels and such, and so, you know, unfortunately, some of the wood’s going to rot and some of that is going to cave in,” said Butte’s World Museum of Mining Director Jeanette Kopf.
That latest sinkhole was found on April 24 on a vacant lot at Quartz and Henry streets. A crew with the city cordoned off the area with a large fence.
A smaller sinkhole was reported the day before on East Broadway and quickly filled in.
An engineering student who lives in the area of the large sinkhole stopped by to check it out.
“As an engineer, it’s cool just to get to see the old workings and how everything’s underneath, the infrastructure that’s been built here,” said Kodis Campbell.
I’m about 65 feet underground in the Orphan Girl mine at the World Museum of Mining. It used to be an active mine, and its shaft goes all the way to the surface and down about 100 feet. And it’s shafts like these that are usually the cause of the sinkholes we’re seeing in and around Butte.
“And a lot of them are coming from the undocumented mines that people when they got down working those, they threw plywood and dirt on top of it and walked away, so we don’t know where they’re at,” said underground mine guide Michael Kopf.
Though this sinkhole is close to his home, Campbell said he’s not worried.
“I know they’ve got extensive scans and models of the underground workings, so I know they do their best making sure nothing’s built over the old workings where it could cave in,” said Campbell.
People should call the city if they notice sagging on the ground in town.
“Because you never know when or where it’s going to happen. You just hope for the best and pray that nobody gets hurt,” said Jeanette Kopf.
