ALTON, Ill. — It's been one week since the ground opened in Alton and swallowed part of a soccer field. The hole, caused by mine subsidence, has shuttered the more than 700-acre park.
Part of the Gordon F. Moore park is a complex of baseball diamonds that the Alton River Dragons, a Prospect League baseball team, calls home.
"When you're out at the field you here them blasting them every Monday through Friday from anywhere between 2 and 3 o'clock," Alton River Dragons General Manager Dallas Martz recalled, "I think is the window and you hear it and you feel it, so you know they're down there."
For the past week, anyone who tried to visit the park could see the now collapsed limestone mine. "I guess the thought of a sinkhole on the soccer fields or anywhere else out there never really crossed my mind until the other day," Martz tells 5 On Your Side, "considering everything that could have happened, we're very blessed."
Blessed because no one was on the field when the ground opened and swallowed part of it. But now Martz' summer college prospect team has to find somewhere else to play until the park is deemed safe and the weather is not helping.
Talking about July 3rd's schedule, Martz explained, "for example if we were able to play at Lloyd Hopkins today with the rain we've had overnight and into the morning, we'd be able to play tonight because the turf drains eight inches of water an hour."
No such luck; the games were moved to Bethalto and then canceled.
Even though finding fields to play on has been a challenge, he's grateful everyone is ok: "We consider ourselves very lucky where we are just trying to find a baseball field to play on."
If all this talk of mine subsidence has you worried, there is an interactive tool online through the Illinois State Geological Survey. The map can show you where mines are and potentially what you should be aware of.
5 On Your Side reached out to the Alton mayor's office, but no one was available to comment. Mayor David Goins did release a statement Tuesday saying he is working with New Frontier Materials and MSHA to make sure the park is safe before it reopens.