State Journal, Frankfort, Kentucky, Staff Report
Published Oct. 28, 1999
Several tons of rock fell from the entrance of an abandoned quarry off Taylor Avenue Wednesday [October 27] afternoon, causing a large smoke cloud but no injuries.
City firefighters temporarily blocked the road while evaluating the situation. They reopened the road after several minutes. Chunks of rocks the volume of three houses fell from the roof of an entrance located closest to Hawk Exterminating, whose building is located at the base of the ridge. An employee of Hawk Exterminating said she was inside the building with two small children at the time of the rock fall.
"It was like, extremely loud thunder," said the employee, who did not wish to be identified. "I looked out the window and thought, what is the smoke ... it looked like complete dense fog."
Military Affairs employee David Altom said he was driving nearby when he saw the thick cloud of smoke. "The entire road was obliterated by smoke," he said. "I thought maybe a plane had crashed."
No debris struck the road or the Hawk Exterminating building.
State Journal, Frankfort, Kentucky, Staff Report
Published Oct. 29, 1999
The former owner of a rock quarry off Taylor Avenue said there was no danger from a catastrophic collapse of its tunnels. "There's no danger of harm to anyone," said Harry Harrod, who sold the quarry last year. "There's too much rock up above."
Several tons of rock on the ceiling of an old quarry entrance collapsed Wednesday afternoon, causing a dust cloud temporarily obscuring Taylor Avenue. No injuries or damages were caused by the rock fall.
Harrod said rock at the entrances of the old quarry would likely continue to fall at times, but the 100 or more feet of limestone above the main tunnels should keep them from damaging a development on a ridge above. "The rock will probably keep falling at the entrance until it's filled," he said. "If more rock fell, it would just pile up to the ceiling."
However, Harrod cautioned the tunnels were not dug to modern mining specifications, and would be subject to interior roof falls. The roof was not bolted as the case in Harrod's current operation off Glenns Creek Road, he said, and the Taylor Avenue quarry's tunnels are wider than advisable. Stone pillars left inside the old quarry are not large enough to meet modern standards, he added. "I would never allow anyone inside when I owned it," Harrod said. "I've never been down under there myself."
Harrod's company sold the Taylor Avenue quarry last year, but never operated it. The Taylor Avenue quarry originally used rock blasted from the face of a hill. However, most of that rock was not suitable for road construction. Around World War II, Harrod said, the company that owned the quarry began digging tunnels into the rockface. Tunneling continued for approximately two decades. "It probably hadn't been operated since 1963 or 1964," Harrod said.
Harrod said he and a partner bought the Taylor Avenue and Glenns Creek Road quarries in 1970. The company never sought to reopen the Taylor Avenue quarry because it wasn't worth it. "It was a small, inefficient operation," he explained.
State Journal, Frankfort, Kentucky, Staff Report
Published June 12, 2000
Taylor Avenue closed after rock fall
A rock fall at the old quarry on Taylor Avenue Sunday has closed the road. Frankfort Fire Department personnel and state highway crews responded to the scene. A deep gash in the left side of the quarry wall is visible from the roadway. Area residents said they heard rumbling noises for most of the day before the fall.
State Journal, Frankfort, Kentucky, Staff Report
Published June 14, 2000
Officials inspecting rock quarry
State mining officials are inspecting the stability of the old rock quarry on Taylor Avenue after a partial collapse on Sunday. Frankfort Fire Chief Wallace Possich said officials with the state's Department of Mines and Minerals looked at the site Tuesday and said there appeared to be no danger to Crown Point homes located on the ridge above the quarry.
Officials with the Department of Surface Mining are being asked to also look at the quarry, Possich said. "We want to make sure they concur with (the Department of Mines and Minerals') opinion," he said.