The day the creek went sterile

You may not remember when all the fish died on Pond Creek, but I do. And you’ve probably never even heard of Pond Creek, but as a young boy in Eastern Kentucky, I remember catching creek chubs, horny heads, suckers, an occasional catfish, and if you were lucky, a small-mouth bass on nothing more than bread-balls, cheese, or worms. 

And then, one day, the creek went sterile. It took more than ten years for Pond Creek to recover from the foam of death and the black silt that destroyed an entire ecosystem. I remember the sludge from the coal slurry, toxic, thick, and blackening the waters of the creek as I sat on the bank, watching, but not understanding.