Re: Joy of this, Joy of that

On Tue, 3 Dec 2024 21:25:12 +0100, D wrote:

Sounds like a similar situation. Have there ever been initiatives to try
and clean it up?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milltown_Reservoir_Superfund_Site

There are several projects along the river. The mines were in Butte and
the chief problem there is the Berkeley Pit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit

Prior to the open pit mine the hill is riddled with traditional hard rock
mines. When they were active pumps kept the ground water in control. The
pumps were turned off in '82 and the pit started to fill.

The ores were smelted in Anaconda.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaconda_Smelter_Stack

They realized the problem and the stack was an attempt to get the fumes
out of the valley. It succeeded in that but they also had to buy a lot of
land downwind. Even today not much grows there and the few trees are
deformed. Anaconda took a novel approach and built a golf course on the
tailings.

https://nicklausdesign.com/course/oldworks/

There still are acres of uncovered tailings. If you take the hiking traill
around the course you get to see the before state.

Then there was the Milltown Dam. There was a lot of foot dragging and
finger pointing but in '96 an exceptionally snowy winter formed ice floes
and the dam was in danger of failing. That got peoples' attention. It was
a long process but the sediments were sent back to Anaconda where they
came from and the dam was removed. When you've got lemons, make a state
park.

https://fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/milltown

The web site is a bit dated. The dam had acted to stabilize a rock face on
the south side where the overlook is. A couple of years ago they decided
it was unstable and closed it off. The old Milwaukee rail line has been
converted to a bike path but Tunnel 26 1/2 passes under the outlook and
the state isn't going to take the liability for that. There was also a
plan to use an old bridge to cross the river where the rail bridge was and
connect the north and south parts of the park but that's held up with some
land deal.  I often hike the trail up and over the ridge and down to the
floodplain on the other side but it would be a difficult bike ride.