YIKES

July 25, 2005 RED DEER ADVOCATE PAGE: A3
Carseland golf course begins sliding into river CP
Carseland A golf course east of Calgary developed a new hazard on Sunday when a large section of the 18th hole began slipping towards the Bow River.
Witnesses estimated the area of the Speargrass Golf Course near Carseland
that sank was about 45 metres long and as much as 10 metres wide. The area
slowly dropped throughout much of the day by about three metres.
I've never seen anything like this, not anything of this magnitude, said
Brady Shave, manager of the course, about 45 kilometres southeast of
Calgary.
Staff at the course first noticed the section dropping at 6 a.m.
They called the RCMP, fearing that displaced soil in the river could divert
water and cause flooding in the Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park campground
on the south side of the Bow.
Campers were removed as a precaution, but by Sunday evening the grounds had
not flooded.
Shave said officials from Alberta Environment were on the scene and a
geologist and an engineer would be arriving today to conduct an assessment
of what happened and what the future risks might be.
Golf course officials said they plan to keep the front nine holes open for
golfers and close the back nine until experts can shed some light on the
situation.
RCMP said Sunday that the campground would remain closed until the area has
been deemed safe.
Jim Horning, who owns about 1.6 hectares of land on the west side of the
18th hole, said he was glad he hadn't built a cabin he had planned for the
site.
Although the landslide hadn't reached his property, he worried the area
could still be dropping.
I could be beachfront soon, said Horning. I guess there's not much I can do.
If it goes down the hill, it goes down the hill.