Ancient burial mounds lined the river, known to the native people as the Owashtanong. The first white settlement was built in 1832, and the fur-trading post at the bend in the river, then known as Oakestown, was settled before the city of Grand Rapids with the expectation that Oakestown would be one of the area's larger cities. Plaster mining prospered throughout the area until an accident filled the White Plaster Mill with water, creating the present-day Big Spring Lake. Eventually, farming, lumbering, and a small oil industry replaced plaster mining as the local source of commerce. It was a destination site for shopping, restaurants, and saloons until floods engulfed the city in 1904, forcing an inland relocation.

Despite the unpopularity of the war in Nicaragua, the Marines experience a wide variety of activities and learn many lessons in a small wars environment, which will serve them well into the next century. Fighting insurgents, forming a host-nation's police force and army, ensuring safe elections, providing medical assistance for the rural population, building roads, constructing airfields, and organizing earthquake disaster relief will occupy the years from 1928 to 1933 for the Devil Dogs. If you ever hear a Marine say, "This is a lousy war, but it's the only one we have," you'll understand the mentality of the men in The Pound: Devil Dogs' War in Nicaragua.

This is a history of the Alabama Environmental Quality Association (AEQA). The AEQA helped to establish environmental protection and natural resource preservation policies for the state and the region and grew into one of the nation's most progressive environmental education efforts.