Cartwright is a town near the North Dakota-Montana border.
It’s known for the bridge over the Yellowstone River, to Fairview, Montana, and a 1458 foot long railroad tunnel, built by the Great Northern Railway in 1912 and 1913. Most of the tunnel was dug by hand.
Both the tunnel and the bridge are open to hikers" and cyclists.
North Dakota’s Public Service Commission will start an investigation in that area, to see if there is an abandoned underground coal mine there.
"On the North Dakota side of the bridge, you look off to the side, to a hillside there, and there's an opening," Christmann said. "People and creatures are going up and going in there."
Christmann said that needs to be closed off.
"It's definitely a safety hazard," Christmann said. "ThHe opening was the mine, where they got coal to run the equipment to build the bridge and such."
And Chirstmann said there is a home just above that on a hill.
"Of course, they (the homeowners) probably didn't know at the time, this was an old coal mine," Christmann said. "And that's what were going to be doing the exploratory drilling on, to see if it is just a cavern that goes in a little ways, or the whole hill is drilled out, and is a safety hazard."
That exploratory drilling will be done this summer. Christmann said as with other abandoned mine lands, steps can be taken to shore up the area.
