- [Narrator] Homestake was always a pioneer in underground gold mining.

And sometimes being a pioneer you learn lessons the hard way.

At the same time, Lead in Homestake were dealing with life or death at the mine.

It became abundantly clear that Lead was sinking into the ground.

The first sign of a problem appeared in the mid 1890s when the Homestake engineering building and T.J. Grier's apartment became badly cracked, and a new one had to be built.

The problem was simple.

Over the years, Homestake had undermined the area of the town to a depth of over 2,000 feet.

This was the deepest any mine had reached, and Homestake engineers relied on timber to hold up the mine, nor did Homestake completely backfill the mined-out areas.

Over the years, the timber rotted and the ground very slowly caved in.

At the same time, businessmen and homeowners in the area were told that in time their property would be lost.

But nobody knew for sure how much time they had.

The 1920s through the mid 1930s became known as the subsidence period.

However, geologically it should be known as surface slippage.

The ground dropped 23 feet around North Mill and Main Street, while the northwest side of the open cut slipped about 36 feet, east and north.