Marcia, I am from Shawnee also and I can tell you that some mines were known to warm the water in some drinking water wells. I also knew a woman (she died in 1988) who as a young girl stepped upon what she thought was solid ground only to have her leg sink into the ground and was burned by the fires. I remember when the roadway to Old Town collapsed due to the fires burning out the under pinning of the road. Some of the better views of the long burning underground fires were down in the Corning area. I believe that the fires were set back during the early mine strikes...in the late 1800s. But you'd have to check on that old story. Good luck in your search, Mary