![]() ![]() Water flows from the remains of the mines, carrying heavy metals out and into streams. Silverton lies in San Juan County, an area once dotted with gold and silver mines. Over a thousand families were relocated, and the Superfund program was born out of the incident. Tests showed inhabitants of Love Canal had chromosomal damage caused by environmental pollution. It wasn't until 1978 that the extent of the area's toxicity was revealed when an investigation by the local newspaper led to federal attention. Residents noticed strange smells and odd illnesses, as well as a shockingly high rate of miscarriages and birth defects. They sold it back to the city of Niagara Falls, which built a neighborhood on top. ![]() Hooker Chemical covered it with clay and soil and declared it sealed. By the 1950s, it was filled with 21,000 tons of toxic waste. Hooker Chemical acquired the property in 1947 and continued chemical disposal. The US army disposed of waste from chemical warfare experiments in Love Canal's pit. In 1920, Niagara Falls bought the pit and used it for a chemical dump. But the developer only got as far as digging a large pit before giving up due to lack of people who actually wanted to live there. In the late 19th century, Love Canal was proposed as a planned community, a "utopian metropolis".
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