First of a series

Brick by brick, stone by stone, log by log, pieces of southwestern Pennsylvania's rich history are being erased by subsidence from longwall coal mining that has damaged or destroyed many architecturally unique and historically significant properties.

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Longwall mining subsidence has caused extensive damage to Dan and Cindy Davis' four-brick-thick farmhouse built in 1812 along Route 40, the nation's first interstate highway. Click photo for larger image. Related articles: Mining tolerated as history crumbles How longwall mining works Graphic: Longwall mining in Western Pennsylvania, in pdf format About the author Part Two Federal review process fails in longwall mining Part Three Historic designation little help to this house

The historic farmhouses, barns, shops and taverns -- markers of the European settlement of the region dating back more than 250 years -- are supposed to be protected by the National Historic Preservation Act.

But a state Department of Environmental Protection policy that directly contradicts the federal historic resources law has allowed those properties in Washington and Greene counties to shift, crack, crumble and fall.

That's the kind of damage that occurs when longwall mining machines operating 300 to 800 feet below the surface remove the six-to-eight-foot-thick Pittsburgh coal seam. The resulting subsidence can cause surface land to slump by more than 4 feet, producing sometimes perilous damage to historic structures that previously suffered only from the incremental ravages of time.

Elizabeth Merritt, deputy general counsel at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, an organization established by Congress to oversee historic issues, said mining damage to historic resources has been a problem nationally for a decade, and southwestern Pennsylvania, where eight longwall mines are operating, is the biggest battleground.

"It's the area of the country where there are the most historic properties threatened by mining," Merritt said. "It's frustrating because a lot of legal protections are being disregarded."

The structures affected span a regional arc of history that includes the French and Indian War, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War and construction of the nation's first highway -- the National Pike.

Historic buildings are particularly susceptible to subsidence because of their age and the construction methods used.

"Because of their unique structure they tend to break up when they're undermined," said Patrick Foltz, executive director of Preservation Pennsylvania. "Anyone who sits down and looks at this subsidence issue and what it's doing to historic properties is outraged."

Mining companies contend there are few if any historic properties in the path of their machines. They also say they are complying with all state and federal laws that require them to repair the damage they cause.

But some historic property owners say the companies haven't been willing to restore buildings using more rigorous historic standards.

In some cases, the companies avoid doing that by buying historic properties that they've undermined or that are in the path of future mining. Once the coal companies buy the properties, they are not required to repair them at all and often don't. Sometimes the buildings are demolished by the coal companies or by new owners who buy the sites.

Allowing such damage to occur subverts the intent of the National Historic Preservation Act, according to those who own and work to preserve such properties. The harm done to historic properties affects not only present owners but future generations that are deprived of seeing, visiting or studying the region's rich agrarian heritage, they say.

"Undermining does nothing good for historic properties," said James Ross, director of the Washington County Historical Society. "We don't want to see them lost. The idea is to save them because they don't build them like that anymore."

Historic homes hurt

Despite their listing in the National Register of Historic Places, three notable properties -- the Ernest Thralls House, the Thomas Kent Jr. Farm and the George W. Gordon Farm, all in Greene County -- have been undermined and damaged by longwall mining

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Raymond Patterson, 69, surveys the subsidence damage done to the foundation and floor of his 250-year-old barn. He had his house, built in 1794, moved outside the mining area, then moved back after the ground slumped. "The whole place is torn up," he said. "It doesn't always look like this." Click photo for larger image.

Hundreds of other historic homes and sites that are not in the national listing but are eligible for such a designation also have been damaged by subsidence or could be over the next several decades, experts say.

A spot survey by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has identified more than two dozen historic homes or structures already damaged by subsidence in Washington and Greene counties -- including 10 along the National Pike, also known as Route 40, a federal Scenic Highway.

On the Anderson Spur of Route 40 in Amwell Township, Washington County, six structures in the Hootman Historic District -- listed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission as eligible for inclusion in the National Historic Register -- were purchased by Consol Energy before the company mined underneath them in August 2002.

All were damaged and most lost well water from the resulting subsidence. The coal company has made repairs and rented several of the homes, but not one of them has been restored to historic standards.

"The wall is cracked and pulled open around the wood stove and the old wooden pocket doors are jammed closed because of the subsidence,'' said Joelle Martin, 21, who with her family rents the wood frame building that was formerly the post office and general store.

Just a mile east on Route 40, Consol's Mine 84 also caused damaging subsidence that tilted the 1812 farmhouse, summer kitchen and barns belonging to Dan and Cindy Davis.

There are exterior cracks in the four-brick-thick walls of the house, which sits on the north side of the National Pike and is eligible for the National Historic Register.

Inside, there are cracks in the library and dining room plaster walls, floors are uneven and two rough-hewn wooden mantles are cracked and separated from fireplace walls. At one point all the exterior doors were stuck shut and the couple had to crawl into their house through a bathroom window until Consol sent someone to plane and unstick the doors.

A barn with an old Mail Pouch chewing tobacco ad painted on the side was already in disrepair, but collapsed after it was undermined, they said.

"Consol told us to wait until the longwall [mining] comes back up the south side of Route 40 before they'll do anything permanent because we could get subsidence damage from that too,'' Cindy Davis said this summer.

"They've made repairs in a timely manner, but they told us they were not aware [of] or familiar with any guidelines for historic property repair, so they will repair the house, but not to historic standards.''

Two weeks ago, after the farm was undermined a second time, Consol representatives visited and assessed new damage, said Dan Davis.

"They took a thorough look at it and were talking about tearing off the porch, which is damaged,'' he said. "They acknowledged that they knew about repairing things to historic standards this time, but never said they would.''

State allows damage

The damage to historic properties is occurring in large part because of the state Bureau of Mining's narrow interpretation of the protections given to historic properties by the National Historic Preservation Act.

The federal historic sites law grants the same legal protections to sites eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as to those already on the list.

That doesn't mean historic resources can't be undermined, but it does mean that both listed and eligible historic resources must be identified and evaluated to determine their significance before any activity that could damage them is allowed. By proceeding that way, mining companies and state mining officials, in consultation with the property owners, could make plans before a property is undermined to avoid or lessen subsidence damage.

But when the state mining bureau is reviewing mining permit applications, it considers a property "eligible for listing'' only if it's been nominated for the national register by the state historical commission. That nomination process, which usually necessitates a professional assessment of the property's historic or architectural significance, can cost a property owner thousands of dollars.

Because of the expense, many historic properties aren't nominated in rural southwestern Pennsylvania. And, because of the state Bureau of Mining's unique interpretation of the federal historic properties law, they aren't deemed eligible for protection from subsidence damage or for expensive mitigation and restoration work that would have to be paid for by the mining companies.

"The mining bureau's interpretation is inconsistent with the way eligible properties are defined in federal law,'' Merritt said. "Any property that possesses characteristics that might qualify it for listing is considered eligible. A nomination is not required as a precondition.

"That's a Draconian requirement that has the effect of preventing most historic-home owners from having their properties protected.''

Other agencies cautious

Other state and federal agencies don't narrow the definition of historic properties eligible for protection under the historic preservation act.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, two agencies whose projects regularly affect private homes and properties, do full historic evaluations.

"We do a field review, have an expert talk to the historical society, talk to residents and neighbors, prepare a historic resource survey and take photographs. If we think it could be eligible we forward the information to Harrisburg,'' said Patricia Remy, environmental manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.

"We are required to treat those kinds of properties with the same protections as those on the historic register. We don't care if it's nominated.''

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, another agency that often undertakes river projects that could affect historic properties, assumes such older structures are historic, according to Richard Dowling, a corps spokesman in Pittsburgh.

"We interpret the law in a way that offers protection to any property that might be deemed historic,'' he said, "whether it's formally nominated or not.''

Michael Nixon, an environmental attorney and consultant who does historic preservation work nationwide, said that for properties that are already on the national historic register, the state mining bureau's policies also violate a state law that prohibits activities that would adversely affect such sites.

Instead, the bureau's policy is to prohibit mining under a historic property only if the subsidence will cause "irreparable damage.'' And it almost never makes that determination.

Nixon, who represents the owners of the historic Ernest Thralls House, said the "irreparable damage" term isn't found anywhere else in state regulations.

"The mining bureau made that up. The bureau has to interpret the regulation as requiring no irreparable harm -- otherwise it can't allow what it has allowed,'' Nixon said. "It's like the Wizard of Oz with the curtain pulled back. The mining bureau is saying pay no attention to the [state] law prohibiting damages. Instead, listen to what we're saying.

"That's something different and much, much less.''

Inventory badly needed

The problem of preserving historic resources is compounded because no one knows exactly how many are scattered through the sparsely settled landscape of southwestern Pennsylvania, where historic homes are often hidden behind the rolling wooded hills, tucked into the green folds around farm fields or disguised under layers of Insulbrick or siding in coal patch towns like Lone Pine, Spraggs and Ned.

Mining companies and state and federal mining officials downplay the impact of subsidence, saying there aren't that many historic structures in the path of mining operations, and that damage is minimal and well compensated.

The DEP, according to spokesman Karl Lasher, knows of only a handful of cases and "doesn't keep a running database" of historic properties.

A state Historical and Museum Commission proposal to conduct a five year, $100,000 survey of historic sites in Washington and Greene counties in advance of approaching longwall mining activities was put into the DEP's budget two years ago and then eliminated. The state budget deficit was blamed.

"We wanted to identify them and then prioritize them,'' said Kurt Carr, chief of the commission's Division of Archaeology and Protection. "We thought there would be a small number that shouldn't be mined under at all.''

Carr said that the DEP and the Pennsylvania Coal Association originally agreed that a historic site survey would be a good idea, but later withdrew support.

George Ellis, coal association president, said the mining companies already list all the structures that are more than 50 years old in their permit applications, as the state requires. As far as reviewing the historic value of those older structures, Ellis said, it all depends on how that's done.

"One group could find a lot [of historic sites] while another [might find] not too many, depending on who does it and the criteria they use,'' Ellis said. He said the coal companies think properties need to be older than 50 years and have more justification than just being nominated for a listing in the historic register.

Tom Hoffman, a spokesman for Consol Energy, the biggest longwall operator in Pennsylvania with five of the eight active mines, said the company hasn't undermined any historic properties.

Consol did undermine the Ernest Thralls House, which is listed in the federal registry, but Hoffman said the company is challenging that listing in federal court.

In another case, he said, "we did undermine one house listed by the Washington County Historical Society, but we bought it. We really have not encountered very many structures that are considered historic by the national registry or anyone else.''

He said Consol has undermined several "older structures'' where the homeowners have been happy to take settlement offers or sell the properties to the company.

"Where we've impacted them we've made generous settlements,'' Hoffman said. "Where the settlement offers have not been agreed to, we've submitted plans to do restoration.''

Census hints at scope

But many historic properties have not been identified or evaluated yet in the coalfield counties, where about 20 percent of the land is already above longwall mines and 60 percent or more may eventually be undermined during the next 50 years.

"A big part of the problem is that there's so much we don't know about yet,'' said the National Trust's Merritt. "So the extent of the liability for historical resources is unknown.''

The 2000 Census shows that 32 percent of Washington County's 87,267 homes and structures were built before 1940, and 35 percent of Greene County's 15,000 homes are that old, which means they meet the minimum age requirement for a national historic listing.

If mining companies were required to identify and thoroughly review all those properties and mitigate or avoid damaging those judged historic, it would cost them millions of dollars and significantly complicate the regulatory process. It could also slow down mining operations.

Pennsylvania's Historical & Museum Commission lists 92 National Register sites and 197 eligible sites in Washington County. Its Greene County listing shows 41 properties in the National Register and 23 more judged eligible. Historians say there are many more.

"We've been trying to get a county historic registry together for years but we don't have one,'' said Brenda Giles, Greene County Historical Society administrator. "If we had more staff and more money, it would be one of the first things I'd do.''

Giles said she already knows of historic properties, including as many as eight Colonial-era log cabins, that have been damaged or destroyed by longwall mining subsidence. She said the coal companies have made financial settlements with owners of other historic properties, but the owners have not fixed them.

"With the poor economy it seems people don't have the time or money to take care of historic structures. So many are abandoned,'' she said.

Perhaps most telling is a partial survey by the Washington County History & Landmarks Foundation, carried out in areas of Washington County where most mining activity will soon take place. It identified more than 250 properties with potential historic value.

"We started looking just at structures -- stone farm houses and magnificent barns -- that were more than 100 years old in rural areas and did half of the 32 townships where mining was approaching,'' said Sandy Mansmann, the foundation's survey director. "In those areas of immediate concern we found a lot of properties that are eligible and that's supposed to be enough to protect them."

Mansmann said she is not anti-mining, but believes historic properties should be preserved.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking mining. This is mining country,'' she said. "But the whole picture changed with longwall mining.''

A moving experience

Raymond Patterson was so worried about subsidence damage to his historic farmhouse, which bore witness to the 1794 killing of a federal revenue agent during the Whiskey Rebellion, that he had the home moved out of harm's way.

Patterson didn't want to risk damage to the house, which was completed just months before the front yard shooting of the agent, who had come to collect a new federal tax from Western Pennsylvania farmers engaged in whiskey production.

"When the mining company started negotiating, they were talking about mitigating damage, digging a trench around it and wrapping it with ropes but there was no guarantee,'' said the 69-year-old auctioneer and breeder of Morgan riding horses. "I couldn't stand the thought of the house cracking apart so we came up with a plan to move it.''

But Patterson, whose family has owned the property originally known as the Miller Mansion for more than 100 years, wasn't able to move his two 250-year-old barns. So when Robert Murray Mining Co.'s Maple Creek longwall mine, operating 285 feet below the surface, moved under the farm in Nottingham Township, Washington County, in October 2002, the barns suffered extensive damage.

Wide cracks appeared in their foundations, doors didn't fit tightly, floors cracked and heaved, and a cement block side building fell down because of subsidence. The barns are currently jacked up over long steel I-beams so the foundations can be rebuilt and new cement floors poured.

"It's very depressing and stressful when you see your house moving down through the field,'' said Patterson's wife, Mary Jane. "We tried to stop [the undermining] because of the house's historical status but it made no difference to them.''

The house, which is eligible for national listing, was returned to its original location in May, none the worse for its 900-foot journey into a farm field outside the mining area. Patterson said the mining company has tried to make the farm a "showplace'' for how to handle longwall mining damage.

"We weren't brutalized. They treated us well. But the mining companies are not too interested in the people living on the surface. They own the coal and they have the right to take it out, but I don't think they should have the right to turn your life upside down with the way they do it,'' he said.

"It's a roller-coaster ride for anyone in the path of the mining. If they have a historic house, they need to get it listed and get a good attorney. Otherwise they'll get run right over.''

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Tomorrow: Cracks in the preservation process.