"We were afraid of its impenetrable darkness. Afraid of its industrial smell. We were afraid of the things that lived beneath its surface and the things that had died there. We were afraid of spotting a hand or a head bobbing in the rafts of garbage that floated by. We were afraid of submerged intake valves that sucked water into the factories along the banks. We were afraid of the river's filth. It wasn't the kind of filth that came from playing with your friends. It was grownup filth. The kind that scared the blue out of water and coated the riverbank with oily black goo. It was the kind of filth you could taste, the kind that could make you sick, maybe even kill you. We were afraid of getting splashed with river water or of touching river rocks. We were afraid of falling in or-God forbid-going under. We were afraid of the river's anger at being so befouled, and afraid, most of all, of the revenge we felt certain the river would exact." New Jersey's Passaic River rises in a pristine wetland and ends in a federal Superfund site. In "An American River," author and New Jersey native Mary Bruno kayaks its length in an effort to discover what happened to her hometown river. The Passaic's wildly convoluted course invites detours into the river's flood-prone natural history, New Jersey's unique geology, the corrupt practices of the Newark chemical plant that produced Agent Orange and poisoned the river with dioxin, and into the lives of an unforgettable cast of characters who have lived and worked along the Passaic and who are trying, even now, to save it. Part natural history, part personal history, part rollicking adventure, the book is a narrative meditation on the wonder of nature, the enduring ties of family, and the power of water and loss. "My great grandmother liked to say, 'Don't shit in the nest, '" writes Bruno. "The Passaic River is an object lesson in what can happen when we ignore that simple, salty advice." ""An American River" is an intricate and satisfying braid of memoir, history, science, nature writing, and acute social observation. This is an invigorating and hopeful book, and its sense of wonder is infectious. It's not, I think, too great a stretch to say that it holds its own on the shelf alongside "Walden," "Silent Spring" and "A Sand County Almanac."" Jonathan Raban Author of "Driving Home: An American Journey"

Produced by the California State Park volunteer group, Auburn State Recreation Area Canyon Keepers (ASRACK), for trails in the Auburn State Recreation Area (ASRA) in the Northern California Sierra foothills.

When James Marshall found a small, soft shiny stone in a California stream, he knew it could only be one thing: Gold! His cry of discovery would be heard around the world. In the third installment of Don Brown's Actual Times series, Gold! Gold from the American River! is the story of the California gold rush--the uncharted journey across hostile land, the laborious process of panning for gold, the success of savvy entrepreneurs, and the fortunes of the marginalized, from slaves and American Indians to women and foreigners.

Rivers of North America, Second Edition features new updates on rivers included in the first edition, as well as brand new information on additional rivers. This new edition expands the knowledge base, providing readers with a broader comparative approach to understand both the common and distinct attributes of river networks. The first edition addressed the three primary disciplines of river science: hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology. This new edition expands upon the interactive nature of these disciplines, showing how they define the organization of a riverine landscape and its processes. An essential resource for river scientists working in ecology, hydrology, and geomorphology. Provides a single source of information on North America’s major rivers Features authoritative information on more than 200 rivers from regional specialists Includes full-color photographs and topographical maps to illustrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system Offers one-page summaries help readers quickly find key statistics and make comparisons among rivers

Water Gold Soil: The American River tells the story of a single flow of water in present-day California from origin to end use. Beginning at the river's headwaters in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the book follows the water through pipes and dams, past Sutter's Mill and the birthplace of the Gold Rush, to the corporate agricultural fields until it eventually disappears into the ground, finding veins in the soil. Including a short essay by Elizabeth Kolbert, the book brings together a series of narrative text, photographs, and archival images that represent the history of extraction in California and testify to the social and ecological consequences of watershed colonialism.

For sixty million years, the Gila River, longer than the Hudson and the Delaware combined, has shaped the ecology of the Southwest from its source in New Mexico to its confluence with the Colorado River in Arizona. Today, for at least half its length, the Gila is dead, like so many of the West’s great rivers, owing to overgrazing, damming, and other practices. This richly documented cautionary tale narrates the Gila’s natural and human history. Now updated, McNamee’s study traces recent efforts to resuscitate portions of this important riparian corridor.