NEATORAMA HOME | LITE/MOBILE VERSION | BEST OF NEATORAMA

40th Anniversary of the Cuyahoga River Fire

By John Farrier in Science & Tech on Jun 23, 2009 at 12:26 pm


40 years ago yesterday the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught on fire.  Again.

The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire was one of the seminal events in American environmental history, yet the conventional narrative about the fire is all wrong — including the famous picture that Time magazine published erroneously. News photographers failed to arrive in time to catch pictures of the quick blaze. The picture Time published was actually from 1952.

Although this river was particularly infamous for its flammibility, river fires were fairly common in Industrial Age America.  Now the river is again healthy and “fish-friendly”.

Link


Share

Tags: , ,


FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP


COMMENT
  1. Steve Marth
    Jun 23rd, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    It also set the stage for one amazing Randy Newman song.

  2. NeonCat
    Jun 24th, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    Back in the mid to late 19th century refineries had a waste product known to us as gasoline. They would usually dump it in a river.

    Granted, it *probably* wasn't all that much gasoline, comparatively, but it would be nice to have it back.

    More recently oil companies burned natural gas, especially on deep sea rigs, because it was too expensive to bring it ashore. I hope they no longer do that, either.

    I was visiting Cleveland once and saw a Great Lakes bulk carrier sailing upstream on the Cuyahoga. There are some very tight turns there and it made for an impressive sight.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Lijit Search

WRITE YOUR OWN NEATORAMA POST
Got a neat story? Share it with the world by writing your very own Neatorama blog post with the Upcoming Queue. Who knows, you might just win something ...

Here's how to get started:
FAQ | Tips