On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:34:58 -0500, "Nate Zigler"
wrote:

I've lived in this place for 21 yrs. When I first moved in, there was a
huge indentation in the back yard, approx. 30'50'x8" deep. I brought in 40
yards of topsoil to fill the spot in. My yard isn't flat, but has a slight
slope all the way around.

About 6 yrs. ago, I brought in another 10 yards, because of a the dip
reappearing.

Now, I have the same area of 30'x50, but it's about 24" deep. It's looks
like a sinkhole!

All utilities including sewer run out front, so I kind of figure it's not
from that.

As a side note, about 10 yrs. ago, there were some properties about 20
miles from here, which the houses fell into some old mineshafts. The shafts
were never charted, so no one knew they were even there. Because of this, I
had mine insurance added as a rider to my policy.

It's now gotten to the point of getting me spooked.

Who do I contact, or what's the first steps, getting in touch with the
proper agencies?


I can not think of the name (word) these companies use. But when you
buy property, they handle the titles, or deeds, or abstracts
(whichever you use in your area). Anyhow, I had to go by my local one
some years ago, over a property line dispute. When I got there, it
was late in the day and the guy was going to be leaving in a half
hour, and said he was just sitting around since his work was done for
the day. I asked him for the measurements of this "line", and he
printed a map and wrote in the measurements. While he was doing that,
I was looking at a map on the wall that showed all the property owners
and creeks and elevations around my place. When he finished my map
copy, I asked him about the creek behind my farm, and where it goes.
Little did I know that I'd get to see an entire map of the whole creek
all the way to a large river, some 30 miles away. He told me about a
hidden spring that is located under the county's equipment parking
lot, which was capped and fed into culverts, and these culverts go
under an entire nearby small town. He told me it first appears behind
one of the restaurants in town, then goes back into culverts, and come
out again by a gravel company. It was extremely interesting, and I
think he was glad to have someone to talk to before leaving for the
day. He told me about some of the iron and other metal deposits in
the region and that there was actually a mine in this town in the
1800's, which was later filled in, and that is where the small lake
came from in the town parks, and that lake is fed by these culverts.
I would have never known any of this.

Anyhow, that is the place you need to go. Look for a company that
advertises land abstracts, or something like that. They know most
everything about the land.