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Long ago a river ran wild through a land of towering forests. Bears, moose, and herds of deer, hawks and owls all made their homes in the peaceful river valley. Geese paused on their long migration and rested on its banks. Beavers, turtles, and schools of fish swam in its clear waters.
 * // A River Ran Wild //**** by Lynne Cherry **

One day a group of native people, searching for a place to settle, came upon the river valley. From atop the highest mountain, known today as Mt. Wachusett, they saw the river nestled in its valley, a silver sliver in the sun. They came down from the mountain, and at the river’s edge they knelt to quench their thirst with its clear water. Pebbles shone up from the bottom.

“Let us settle by this river, said the chief of the native people. He named the river Nash-a-way – River with the Pebbled Bottom.

By the Nash-a-way, Chief Weeawa’s people built a village. They gathered cattails from the riverbanks to thatch their dwellings. In the forest they set fire to clear brush from the forest floor. In these clearings they planted corn and squash for eating. They made arrows for hunting and canoes for river travel. When the Indians hunted in the forest or caught salmon in the river, they killed only what they needed for themselves for food and clothing. They asked all the forest creatures that they killed to please forgive them. The Nashua people saw a rhythm in their lives and in the seasons. The river, land, and forest provided all they needed. The Nashua had lives for generations by the clear, clean, flowing river when one day a pale-skinned trader came with a boatload full of treasures. He brought shiny metal knives, colored beads, and cooking kettles, mirrors, tools, and bolts of bright cloth. His wares seemed like magic. The Nashua welcomed him, traded furs, and soon a trading post was built.

In the many years that followed. The settlers’ village and others like it grew and the Nash-a-way became the Nashua. The settlers worked together to clear the land by cutting down the forests, which they thought were full of danger – wilderness that they would conquer. They hunted wolves and beaver, killing much more than they needed. Extra pelts were sent to England in return for goods and money. The settlers built sawmills along the river, which the Nashua’s current powered. They built dams to make the millponds that were used to store water. They cut down the towering forest and floated tree trunks down the river. The logs were cut up into lumber, which was used for building houses. The settlers built fences for their pastures, plowed the fields, and planted crops. They called the land their own and told the Indians not to trespass. Hunting land disappeared as the settlers cleared the forest. Indian fishing rights vanished as the settlers claimed the river. The Indians’ ways were disrupted and they began to fight the settlers. The wars raged for many years but the Indians’ bows and arrows were no match against the gunpowder, and so the settlers’ rifles drove the Indians from the land. Through a hundred years of fighting, the Nashua was a healthy river, sometimes dammed for grist and sawmills, but still flowing wild and free. Muskrats, fish, and turtles still swam from bank to bank. Deer still came to drink from the river, and owls, raccoons, and beaver fed there.

At the start of the new century, an industrial revolution came to the Nashua’s banks and waters. Many new machines were invented. Some spun thread from wool and cotton. Others wove the thread into cloth. Some machines turned wood to pulp, and others made the pulp into paper. Leftover pulp and dye and fiber was dumped into the Nashua River, whose swiftly flowing current washed away the waste. These were times of much excitement, times of “progress” and “invention.” Factories along the Nashua River made new things of new materials. Telephones and radios and other things were made of plastics. Chemicals and plastic waste were also dumped into the river. Soon the Nashua’s fish and wildlife grew sick from this pollution.

The paper mills continued to pollute the Nashua’s waters. Every day for many decades pulp was dumped into the Nashua, and as the pulp clogged up the river, it began to run more slowly. As the pulp decomposed, bad smells welled up from the river. People who lived near the river smelled its stench and stayed far from it. Each day as the mills dyed paper red, green, blue, and yellow, the Nashua ran whatever color the paper was dyed. Soon no fish lived in the river. No birds stopped on their migration. No one could see pebbles shining through murky water. The Nashua was dark and dirty. The Nashua was slowly dying.

One night Oweana, a descendant of Weeawa who still lived by the Nashua, had a dream so vivid that he awoke in wide-eyed wonder. In his dream Chief Weeawa’s spirit returned to the river and saw it as it was now – still and deadly. Chief Weeawa mourned for the Nash-a-way, but where his tears fell upon the dirty waters, the waters were cleansed until the river once again flowed freely. The next morning Oweana went to speak to his friend Marion. When he told her of his dream, she said, “I had this dream also! River with the Pebbled Bottom is the name Weeawa gave it, but today no pebbles shine through the Nashua River’s waters.” Together they decided something must be done. Marion traveled to each town along the Nashua. She spoke of the river’s history and of her vision to restore it. “No longer do we have a river – it’s a stinking, smelly sewer. But it wasn’t always this way.” People listened and imagined a sparkling river, full of fish. They imagined pebbles shining up through clear waters. They signed petitions and sent letters. They convinced the paper mills to build a plant to process the waste. They persuaded the factories to stop dumping. Finally, new laws were passed and the factories stopped polluting. Slowly, slowly, the Nashua’s current began to clean its water. Year by year the river carried away the dyes and fiber to the ocean. Marion and Oweana thanked the people who had helped to clean the Nashua.

Through the meadows, towns, and cities, the Nashua once again flows freely. Paper pulp no longer clogs it. Chemicals no longer foul it. Now we walk along its banks and row upon its fragrant waters. We can set our boats upon it and with its current, drift downstream. Once again the river runs wild through a towering forest greenway. Red-tailed hawks and barred owls live here. Geese pause from their long migration and rest on the riverbanks. Deer come to drink from the river’s waters. We, too, have settled by this river. Pebbles shine up through clear water. Nashua is what we call it – River with the Pebbled Bottom.