While reading a story about the Sandy River in The Daily Bulldog, the new newspaper in Franklin County, Your Scribe was startled to see a story about the amount of refuse and man-made junk in this fine waterway.

Actually, I would have gone from being "startled" to "taking umbrage" at the scandalous report if there hadn't been photos with the story.

The Bulldog's reporter had canoed from Phillips to Farmington. He snapped photos that showed a large industrial saw blade in the water, and in a different section of the river, part of an automobile.

My camp is about seven miles downriver from Farmington. I have seen very little garbage in the miles that I canoe.

But there it was, photos of decaying waste in the upper Sandy. Every river must have parts that could be cleaner.

My shock (later downgraded to "disappointment") reminded me of the days in the '70s, when the Environmental Protection Agency was getting aggressive.

It disclosed the names of the most polluted rivers in the country. On the list were rivers in Maine, including several of the state's largest in central Maine.

Maine waterways had for years hosted mills, shoeshops and paper companies. It was Maine's dirty secret that the rivers were foul, but at that time the mill owners and Chamber of Commerce types said that they could not afford to change their ways for the sake of clean water.

They vigorously opposed the EPA directives to invest in new methods and machinery so the discharges would be cleaner.

Business execs, many in offices located far from Maine, argued. They complained. They pleaded poverty.

Corporate spokespersons rolled out the oft-used trump card, "We'll move out of state."

But some companies, especially the paper mills, did invest in equipment to help clean the rivers.

(An aside: It seems to me that even today the Androscoggin is sending large concentrations of egg yokes downriver, but leaders in that area gamely say it is just the way the water comes rushing off the falls).

The state's paper companies, which invested many millions to change their polluting ways, today are moving operations South or overseas.

It hurts to lose jobs. But I'm glad that many paper companies did the right thing, and made an effort to leave clean rivers before other economic factors interceded.

There will always be blemishes, I suppose, such as those found by The Bulldog on the 69-mile long Sandy River. But it seems to me that the waterways are a lot cleaner now because the EPA put on the pressure those many years ago.

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