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L<B>and</B> <B>mine</B> Page 15 of 20 <br /> aquatic life in it. <br /> • Fish fall prey to mine's water <br /> Acid had been flowing out of old mines for a century on the upper reaches of <br /> the Alamosa River. Some tributaries—with names such as Bitter Creek, <br /> Alum Creek and Iron Creek—were probably contaminated long before <br /> miners began digging. <br /> But the river continued to host fish, at least in its lower reaches. Terrace <br /> Reservoir, 17 miles below the point where Summitville water flows into the <br /> river, was a state fishery, and a nearby Forest Service campground was a <br /> popular gathering place for residents along the lower Alamosa. <br /> "Summitville took out the fishery in Terrace Reservoir,"said John Woodling, <br /> an aquatic biologist who has followed clean water issues for the Colorado <br /> Division of Wildlife since 1978. <br /> Fish were living in the reservoir in 1988 or 1989, he said. They were gone in <br /> 1990. <br /> Residents didn't notice at first, said Cindy Medina, who lives in Capulin, 25 <br /> miles downriver from Summitville. The acid is colorless, and few people ever <br /> saw the operation at Summitville, which was on a dirt road high in the <br /> mountains. <br /> "I feel like we were kind of asleep,"said Medina, who has been active in <br /> efforts to revive the river. "I think most people didn't realize what was going <br /> on. It was clear up there at 10,000 or 11,000 feet, and it's kind of like hidden <br /> from us." <br /> Medina said she became fully aware of what had happened when signs <br /> went up at the campground not to drink the river water. By then, Galactic <br /> was bankrupt. <br /> "And then, by that time, we had a dead river," Medina said. <br /> Alan Miller, who farms at Capulin, recalls the day in 1990 when he and his <br /> father went out to close a head gate on a ditch that draws from the Alamosa. <br /> They were surprised to see dozens of trout flopping in a pool, as if they <br /> were trying to get away from the river. <br /> Miller caught the fish with a net. <br /> "We ate them, and gave them to our neighbors,"Miller said. <br /> The next year, no one saw a fish. <br /> SEC scrutinizes gold claims <br /> By the late 1980s, Galactic executives and <br /> corporate board members were alarmed. Far from <br /> • being a flagship, Summitville was pulling the <br /> company toward bankruptcy. <br /> http://www.denver-rmn.com/news/0507smmtl.shtml 5/7/00 <br />