Callanan suspends blasting amid cave-ins

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. >> Callanan Industries has called off blasting at its quarries on both sides of state Route 32 until further studies are done on the former cement mining caves in East Kingston.

At a Town Board meeting Thursday, Aug. 15, town Supervisor James Quigley said Callanan is seeking to determine if blasting about three-quarters of a mile away would worsen cave collapses that on July 25 sent debris down a ridge along Main Street in the hamlet.

“They’re telling their customers the crushers will probably be shut down until the end of the year, and they will not blast until next year,” Quigley said.

The town supervisor added that a minor rock slide on Friday, Aug. 9, was also attributed to collapsing caves, and contributed to Callanan’s decision to stop blasting activities three days later.

“I believe that they’re being abundantly cautious because they understand the adverse public reaction,” Quigley said. “Everybody that you talk to down there blames them for everything.”

Caves in the narrow ridge along Main Street date to the 1880s. Quigley noted that Railroad Avenue is named for the route that took material from the cement mines to kilns near the Hudson River and Rondout Creek.

Quigley said the quarry used by Callanan Industries on the other side of the ridge was first used for rock excavation in 1957 but has not seen any recent blasting.

“The majority of blasting that took place on the east side of Route 32, directly adjacent to the caves, took place prior to Callanan owning the mine,” Quigley said. “It took place when Hudson Cement was the predominant employer and manufacturer down there.”

The July 25 cave collapse sent material spilling down the side of the ridge, leading town officials to erect about 375 feet of cement barriers along the west side of Main Street in East Kingston, from Railroad Avenue to St. Colman’s Church.

Among forces weakening the former cement caves is water that freezes and thaws, Quigley said. He described the top of the ridge as giving the appearance of sinking rather than having peaks that might be expected at the top of a hill.

“It’s collapsing into the side,” he said.

“There use to be a tunnel ... and it goes through the side of the mountain and up,” Quigley said. “There’s a series of caves that run the whole entire length of the mountain and the big ones are right in here (along Main Street).”