That, of course, means acidic upstream waters, and countering that on site may well cause even more costly problems below the downstream neutralizing limestone watersheds, e.g., Lime Creek and Lime Mesa. Those neutralizing waters cause the minerals to precipitate out in less than 70 mesh grains to form a wonderful mineral deposit south of Bakers Bridge (now a threatened national treasure). Already, for the first time I can recall, this year, gravel bars below Trimble were coated white with alkali, something extremely difficult and costly for farmers and ranchers to deal with, and then, that overlain with huge chunks of thick green algae.

In the 1940s and ’50s, the river was teeming, in spite of all the failing tailings piles that sometimes turned the river to sludge, with fish of all kinds – such as large trout (look at the 36-incher at the Wildlife office in Durango), huge schools of suckers and carp by the thousands in shallow flood waters at the Iron Horse, turtles and frogs. What happened to them?

The fish expert I talked to, who because of rampant political correctness was afraid to speak publicly, claims the algae feeding on the effluent of the many new sewage treatment plants from Purgatory downstream coat the fish eggs and kills them.

When I asked the state Department of Health to check the plants’ discharges, they verified that each plant was meeting its “point of discharge requirements, but each still delivers some pollution to the Animas,” and with so many new chemicals being discharged nowadays, we no longer even know what to check for.

The problem never has been nature’s minerals and the mines, folks. It’s the new playgrounds and summer residences from Cascade south with their newly concocted chemical discharges screwing up the watershed.

Jim Hanks

Durango