They suggest large and small triumphs of nature and of man. Upper Sacramento, California Rivers die slowly. You don't have a live one today and a sterile channel tomorrow. Or you do. The Sac was rich in bugs, a freestone brawler fed by snowmelt from the slopes of Mt. Shasta, a blue-ribbon fishery averaging 6,700 to 8,800 trout per mile for more than 38 miles.
Some people say they're low, that a million trout died that day.
The tanker's chemical cargo, however, was not even deemed toxic. That's because it's not until it combines with water. With the river lifeless, man's battles began. In a compromise, the California Department of Fish and Game closed the river to fishing, captured wild rainbows from the headwaters above the kill, spawned them and nurtured the smolts. When lower life forms reestablished themselves, the Department released the young fish.