the Site is a location of a former arsenic mine. Historic mining operations occurred in the mid-1800’s through 1918. At first miners believed that they had found a silver mine based upon the coloring of the mineral until it was sent out for analytical which determined that the mineral was actually arsenopyrite. Later mining operations were conducted for the arsenopyrite. On-site they did not have any chemical processing, but rather they did physical consolidation and sent the material off for further processing. The processing that occurred in the U.S. did not produce a quality product. Quality processing occurred in England, but it was not cost effective to further mine in the U.S. to send the raw material oversees for this processing. Which is why the mine closed in 1918. In the mid-1950’s the mine entrance was supposedly backfilled and a ski slope was installed (you can still see part of this today – there is the house for the J-bar and there is still lighting in the trees). In 1987, the residents living at 491 Gipsy Trail Road were taken to the hospital for arsenic poisoning. In 1988, EPA installed a water collection system at 491 Gipsy Trail Road. In 2016, the homeowners called EPA to inquire about assistance with the system. It was determined at that time that there were sediments entering the system. Analysis of these sediments showed high levels of arsenic which lead to the assessment of this property and neighboring properties. From the assessment, arsenic was detected as high as 56,000 mg/kg in the soils.
