Day 6 Spokane, Washington

Hydroelectric on the spokane river

With a night of sleep putting a spring in our step for the following day we all set out to learn about the effects of mining in the area. The local lake, lake Cordelane is another site where humans have unintentionally polluted the water ways. Local miners in the area sifted the excavated earth from the 1880's to the 1900's for lead, copper, and gold. Without knowing what damage they were causing they pumped the mined dust down the river where over the years lead has been bio-cumulating. Lead is a harmful metal that can cause serious damage to the nervous system and is not soluble in water. Year after year the lead has been killing off local aquatic, and avian life and is now effecting humans living in the area. Currently the mud banks along side the lake and river are about 1,000 parts per million lead and this covers about 75% of the flood plane. The site is under heavy environmental watch, but not much action is being done to clean the area. The issue with the area is the lead is not in the water but in the soil, so to fix the area the soil needs to be removed. If the soil is moved then there is a large amount of lead that will be resuspended into the river and polluting further down stream. after a full day of learning about the area and mining history we all had dinner at the famous Snake-pit restaurant, where we were treated to some unique people and even more unique foods. we all went back to the house and had a short discussion and crashed for the night. 

Things to Note:

• Some days will be crazy with all the driving, getting out of the vans, walking around, and piling back up into the vans. The days feel terribly long, but just remember it is only one day and try to stay positive. 
• Try the local cuisine, no matter how strange it is, push the limits of what you will try. It makes for good stories later in life. 

What we tried was "Colorado Oysters", you do the math...