Abandoned mine shaft plugged in Granite Bay

Crews plugged an abandoned mine shaft off of Auburn Folsom Road Wednesday. The horizontal mining shaft was discovered about a year ago during work on the widening of the road between Granite Bay and Folsom."When they cut the road bed deeper, about 16 feet down, they hit it going across the road," said Steve Jenkins, Abandoned Mine Lands Unit manager. "They closed it off and the remaining shaft was backfilled with dirt, figuring that would seal it. But what happened with the rains, (the dirt) all eroded away and washed back down."The shaft was a safety hazard and crews from the Abandoned Mine Lands Unit inspecting it Wednesday discovered the roof had caved in further down the shaft, Jenkins said.A polyurethane hardened foam was used to permanently fill the mine shaft.The shaft was located along a quartz line miners used to find gold, said Carrie Reinsimar, PIO for the Department of Conservation."It went very smooth," Jenkins said after the job was done. "We don't expect it to open up again."