From Blight to Bloom

摘要

LITTLE SUGAR CREEK RUNS through the center of Charlotte, North Carolina. For most of the last century, though, its name mocked reality. Until the 1930s, this creek was so polluted by runoff from the local cotton mill, the authorities hung perfumed barrels over its bridges to mask the stench. After that, until the early '60s, perfumed additives were poured into the creek. More indignities followed: dredging, culverts, channelization—even a concrete cap to serve as a parking lot at the state's first indoor shopping mall. When the stream was buried, the wildlife left, for good it seemed.