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<br />L 'U"""'-UJ.1U ......., U""" .....J.J- u.J.J..u..... ~'J.J- <br /> <br />& _::;,_ ~ __ v... _v <br /> <br />aquatic life in It. <br /> <br />Fish fall prey to mine's water <br /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <br />Fish were living in the reservoir in 1988 or 1989, he said. They were gone in <br />1990. <br /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <br />"And then, by that time, we had a dead river," Medina said. <br /> <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 /> <br />Miller caught the fish with a net. <br /> <br />'We ate them, and gave them to our neighbors," Miller said. <br /> <br />The next year, no one saw a fish. <br /> <br />SEe scrutinizes gold claims <br /> <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 /> <br />http://www.denver-nnn.com/news/O 507 smmt 1. shtml <br /> <br /> <br />517100 <br />