To the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, a mine is a terrible thing to waste.
That’s why, three years after the old Road Materials Corp. gravel pit between Prairie Grove and Island Lake was turned into a golf course rather than abandoned, the department has recognized the architectural conversion.
The state awarded Road Materials Corp. its version of an Oscar, giving it a Mined Land Reclamation Award in the non-coal division. Ostensibly the award is for turning one hole into 18, but it’s really to encourage other mining companies to create something with the land when they’re done mining.
“There may be others who are thinking about this kind of use, and this could serve as a good example,” said Linda Hiltabrand, environmental protection supervisor for the department’s Office of Mines and Minerals, referring to the Prairie Isle golf course.
The award to Road Materials Corp. comes as the debate over gravel pits in McHenry County grows heated, particularly now that a new mine has been proposed near Hebron.
An important part of the county’s economy, gravel pits are controversial because of the nettlesome dust and traffic they bring with them. Falling gravel from loaded trucks also has been blamed for breaking car windshields of many a McHenry County motorist.
The award, according to the state, shows that an operator can return the land to a useful purpose, even after more than three decades of gravel mining.
“This was the best second use,” said Chris Newkirk, the former president of Road Materials and one of the owners of the golf club. “It provides open space and recreation. It has a low impact on (government) services and a high impact on the public’s ability to enjoy the game of golf.”
Road Materials mined the pit from 1954 to 1989, digging on roughly 100 acres that, at its deepest, dropped about 30 feet into the ground.
When the company was finished, it left behind small hills of so-called overburden, the topsoil that’s removed to get to the gravel, and a number of settling ponds that were used to wash rock after it was taken from the ground.
But rather than see the hills and ponds as impediments to the property’s use after mining, the designers decided to incorporate them into the golf course.
“When we designed the golf course, it was done around these elevation changes,” said Newkirk. “We kept all the water locations that we could keep from the original gravel operation.”
Fifty years ago, the notion of converting a gravel pit or other large industrial site into anything probably wouldn’t have been considered. Many mining companies simply walked away and left their old mines to collect rainwater.
But these days, government regulations are much stricter. Officials in McHenry County, in fact, require mining companies to post a bond to ensure that the land is reclaimed the way the company says it will be.
Similar re-use plans are being made for other gravel pits. The Vulcan Materials pit in Crystal Lake, for instance, will be turned over to the city’s Park District. And there is talk of a water-skiing community on the lake where the Fram Gravel Pit Co. used to mine near Lakemoor.
“The land after the mining is just as valuable from a development standpoint as before the mining,” said Robert Wegener, the vice president of Smith Engineering Consultants Inc., the company that transformed the Road Materials pit into the golf course. “You can create whatever you want.”
The Department of Natural Resources, which has given out reclamation awards since 1987, thought a golf course was an innovative way to reclaim the pit, based on its criteria–innovation, water quality and cost-effectiveness.
It gave the award to Road Materials earlier this month. A separate award was given in the coal division.
In both cases, however, the awards are intended to encourage the gravel and coal industries to be creative in their use of mined land.
Nowadays, gravel pits do continuous reclamation, cleaning up and developing one section even as they turn to another for new mining. Even before Prairie Isle was designed, 70 acres of the pit were turned into a housing development called Crystal Woods Estates.
Septic requirements made it difficult to turn the rest of the property into homes, though. And keeping the land’s industrial zoning would not have been compatible with the area of eastern McHenry County around the pit, Newkirk said.
So in 1990, Road Materials owner Bill Melahn agreed to the golf course. Smith Engineering worked closely with the Army Corps of Engineers on protecting wetlands at the site. The company also cordoned off other natural areas to preserve them.
What remains, according to golfers, is a challenging and fun course.
Playing the 10th hole early Wednesday morning, Kevin Dick of Wonder Lake said he learned about the course from his father, Richard, who lives in Cary.
“Ever since it opened we’ve been playing here,” said Kevin Dick. “It’s very challenging. The fairways are tough, and the water is in the ideal spots.”
“No course is challenging if you can play the fairways,” he added.
Said his father: “But it’s not unreasonable.”
A friend, Mick Schacht of Wauconda, said he was looking even further into the future, hoping the course would mature and become even better.
“We’ve seen it come a long way,” added Schacht. “I’m looking forward to four or five years when the place grows up and becomes a tougher course.”
