Line construction could open ecological ‘Pandora’s Box’ on mountainside

Published 10:00 pm Wednesday, August 26, 2015

To the editor:

A short history lesson and geologic study would have served individuals with the Duke Power Foothills Project well prior to proposing Segment 5 as one of their study routes. A portion of this path runs along the I-26 corridor from Columbus to Howard Gap. If selected, the route will re-open an ecological Pandora’s Box which was unlocked almost 50 years ago during the construction of the interstate.

In 1968, the North Carolina Department of Transportation began construction of I-26 between Columbus and Howard Gap along the south face of Tryon Mountain. By late 1968, construction had ground to a halt because the bare mountainsides of Warrior Mountain, Williams Mountain and Miller Mountain had begun to slip into the valley below. By May 1970, 500,000 cubic yards of silt had come down the mountain onto properties along Warrior Drive and Howard Gap Road. (To visualize the magnitude of 500,000 cubic yards of oozing silt picture 24 football fields, end zone to end zone, at a level of 10 feet filled).

Each time it rained the damaging runoff, travelling mainly through mountain stream beds, laid waste to property owner’s ponds, swimming pools, homes, driveways, creeks and natural springs. The sticky, slightly greasy mess of clay silt, mica and rotten crumbly granite from the mountain coated pasturelands, yards and gardens.

My family’s farm on Howard Gap Road was one of the properties affected by the construction of I-26. Our ¾ acre fishing pond became a refillable sandbox for eight years; our fish died, our ducks died. For eight years mud continually filled our streams, blocked our culverts, and eroded our creek beds. Both our neighbors were forced to sell their cattle herds because they had no clean water and the pastures were covered in quicksand-like mud.

Geologist contracting for the State of North Carolina said that because of alternating conditions of hard and soft rock on the mountain they had miscalculated the depth of the “overburden.” Once the mountains began to slide it took seven years to control the mountains’ shift. The final stabilization plan for I-26 involved installing over 100,000 feet of horizontal drains on the mountains along with two foot deep sand blankets topped with one foot of rock to control water flow. Additionally, bench cuts were made into the slide prone areas.

Forty years after the completion of I-26, it is an uneasy peace for those of us who live below the interstate. We know the massive surgical patch of piping, sand and rock created by the State of North Carolina along and above I-26 is secured by 40 years of trees growth on the mountain. We also know that underneath that patch is more rotten granite, mica and clay which could run unchecked onto our lands if the mountain is disturbed. Our pond has filled up with silt numerous times over the past 40 years; it is our daily reminder that the mountain is fragile.

Duke Power should remove Section 5 from consideration as a proposed transmission line route.  If the surgical patch and tree cover which hold up a portion of our mountains around and above I-26 is destroyed by the construction of transmission lines and right of ways, history could repeat itself. The ecological Pandora’s Box inside our beautiful mountains would once again be opened with nightmarish environmental consequences.