Railroaders' Nostalgia > Cantara-the rest of the story Part 1

Since the story of the infamous Cantara Spill has been brought up again, John Signor has asked me to post the following story. I was living up here in Dunsmuir during this incident and was put on a retainer with the railroad to photograph SP's effort to clean up the river. It was quite a time. Its a 7 part story which is quite interesting.


GMO 89748

My name is John Signor. I Hired out with the Southern Pacific at Tracy, California,
as a trainman for the San Joaquin Valley melon rush on July 15, 1974. I transferred
to Dunsmuir in 1977. Boomed around the system in the 1980s while cut off working in
Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas and New Mexico. Didn’t turn much of a wheel after
1989. I was working a lot on special assignment for SP by this time and was busy.
Besides, they had just gotten rid of the cabooses and I was not as enthusiastic to
be out on the road as before.
Through a remarkable chain of events—even though I assure you I was a solid "D"
student in high school English—I wound up writing a number of books on SP history,
starting with the railroad out of Dunsmuir and over the Siskiyou Mountains in 1980.
Recently I released my 11th book—on the Salt Lake Division. Aware of my books,
Charlie Babers, who was General Manager at San Francisco, asked me one time while I
was visiting One Market how I found time to write all these books and still work for
the SP. Before I could reply, he had thought it through and said—don’t answer that.
(For many years these books were researched and written on company time while laying
over at Company housing or sitting in sidings for hours.) I liked Mr. Babers, he
was a true old-school railroader, but I did cross him once and after he was through
giving me a piece of his mind (he was notorious for this) I asked him if it was true
that he broke all the windows in the Polly Coach. He was shocked first, that I knew
what the "Polly" was and second, that I knew what he did to it. (this was car 3150
assigned to the Dawson Branch mixed out of Tucumcari NM). He never spoke against me
after that.

I started to do a lot of consulting for various people at SP including Mike Brown
and Mike Furtney in Public Relations, Bob MacIntyre and Bart Nadeau in Marketing,
and various people in Law. I left the SP before the “merger” in 1995 and am now
self-employed connected with several historical Societies and serve as a consultant
regarding SP matters on occasion for the UP. A couple of years ago I was asked to
speak before the retired SP Executives Club at the Family Club in San Francisco.
Rather than talk about railroad history, I decided to tell them about my experiences
with GMO 89748 and I thought I would share them with you as well.
GMO 89748 was the Southern Pacific General Manager’s Order for expenditure on the
infamous Cantara Spill. This was a serious, high-profile, railroad-caused ecological
disaster which happened in my back yard, so to speak.
Its hard to believe that it was 20 years ago now, but about 9:45 p.m. Sunday, July
14, 1991, a 97-car eastbound empty drag string-lined across the 14-degree Loop at
Cantara a few miles north of Dunsmuir in the Sacramento River Canyon at 11mph and
derailed a tank car into the Sacramento River. During the night the car leaked some
19,000 gallons of an agricultural chemical called Metam Sodium into the river, which
killed fish and plant life for a distance of 45 miles—all the way south to Shasta
Lake.

The following morning was muggy and overcast in Dunsmuir. My wife complained of a
headache early in the morning. But otherwise life went on as usual, or so we
thought. During the day, the freeway was strangely quite. The story began to spread,
and by mid-day the lawyers, environmental activists, media, government agencies and
politicians were all looking at their maps to find out where the hell Dunsmuir was.

I was already doing a lot of work for the SP in San Francisco at the time and Andy
Anderson of Public Relations asked me to sit in on an impromptu “town meeting” that
had been called in the afternoon to see what was said, which I did. Thus I was
ushered into the spill from day 1 and as things turned out, would be involved in
SP’s mitigation efforts for the next five years from the inside. My wife was on the
city council at the time. The spill changed our lives. While SP was clearly
responsible for the initial tragedy, and we knew people and businesses that were
adversely affected by it, the excesses of everything that followed far overshadowed
the derailment and spill to the extent that I have ceased to trust or believe in the
media, lawyers, politicians, environmentalists etc.

The meeting had been called by high-profile San Francisco lawyer Melvin Beli, and it
was little more than a shouting match. As 150 angry, confused and frightened
townspeople crowded the Eagles hall within 50 feet of the SP main line, the media –
ABC, NBC, PBS, several papers and CNN – smelling blood, circled like sharks. So did
those seeking media attention. At the meeting we watched as...
- A self-styled local shaman gave testimony of how he waded into the river to “watch
the fish die” and was now going to sue because of his ailments.
- Members of Green Peace arrived in a timely manner from the college town of Chico
and attempted to weld a steel coffin to the rails in front of the cameras while
wearing Halloween skeleton suits.
- Earth First representatives compared the incident to Exxon Valdez.
- Local businessmen charged that SP “had taken the Best Water on Earth away from
us.” We need to sue to which a lawyer in attendance said it was easy - “I’ve sued SP
lots of times.”
- A resident of Castella along the river just below us shouted “we can’t believe the
government or the SP, we need attorneys now-lets go get ‘em!”
In that he was partly right. As soon as local government and law enforcement
officials were aware of what was happening things rapidly escalated, but for the
residents of Dunsmuir information was short in supply.

Two command posts were established - at Mount Shasta, about five miles north of
town, and Redding an hour south on the interstate, neither of which was within five
miles of the river. By noon the first day, more than 300 personnel from 63 separate
agencies were involved. There was a power struggle to see who was in charge. I saw
the documents later, and someone thoughtfully penciled in an SP representative on
the last page at the last minute. Interstate 5 was closed for six hours the first
day 65 miles from Weed to Redding, as well as the air space, but no one ever thought
to inform local residents or evacuate river side towns like Dunsmuir, and in fact
they wouldn’t even let us leave - all the on ramps were blocked. Once organized,
teams of hazmat people descended on SP crews at Cantara seriously delaying efforts
to get things out of the river.

But where the average citizen was restricted, the lawyers and media were given easy
access. The town began to fill up with remote satellite dishes, power generators and
cable and reporters and camera crews looking for a story. Legitimate concerns of
residents were drowned out by the frenzy of media excess. We watched in amazement
as the news spread the story of the spill in the most glorified terms imaginable...

- SP had killed all life for a distance of 45 miles defoliating the hillsides (to
which they added helicopter shots of Shasta lake shoreline where a five year drought
had dropped the lake level 40 feet exposing stumps and bare sides)

- “Stan the fixit man,” a regular at the local Flamingo Club, complained on camera
that his 300 pound wife had almost continuous diarriah. We had to agree that she
looked pitiful.

- An SP environmental hazmat contractor was assaulted on the street in Redding by a
man claiming to be from a group called the “Cantara Revenge Team.”

- I remember KTVU 2 Oakland reporter Bob McKenzie standing on the Butterfly bridge
over the river in Dunsmuir at dusk with a camera crew explaining to his viewers how
the spill had killed all fish, plant and insect life along river as thousands of
gnats swarmed the hot lights.

- Angry mob scenes from the first impromptu meeting were shown again and again as
were as many dead fish as possible, as were the crazies. Redding and Sacramento
papers came out with special tabloid sections detailing the first ten days of the
spill using skull and cross bones as daily icons and then congratulated themselves
by doing thumbnail profiles and mug shots of their investigative teams.

- SP was covering up. And government officials (not the local ones at Dunsmuir I
might add) were sure of it.

Into this morass on the second day stepped Bob Taggert, Senior Vice President Public
affairs, representing the SP. I attended every public meeting he went to on behalf
of the SP. With such a confusion of “who’s in charge,” whipped up by the media,
lawyers and vocal people with agendas, its a wonder he wasn’t strung up and I can
tell you from my perspective that he earned every bit of his $500 an hour 24 hours a
day plus expenses facing the mob. - As things turned out he was the first of a long
line of high priced consultants brought in by SP to stabilize the situation.

Meanwhile SP crews were picking up the derailment and cleaning up the chemical at
Shasta Lake.
What the media never saw was the crew on the ill-fated train. I knew them both, Bill
Kirby, a sort of biker type was the Conductor and better out of the public eye.
Jack Lahey was the Engineer. It was a flange oiler that was the problem, not crew
error - the locomotives slipped and yanked the train. SP took great pains to keep
the media away from Bill, Jack and the crews cleaning up the mess so they could get
things done. Jack however was a bit of a card and for the next several months he
wore a large button to work that read “I made Dunsmuir Famous.” Another of his
antics was to show up on helpers with a paper bag over his head as the “unknown
engineer.”

One of the first things SP did was set up a claims office in Dunsmuir. They imported
claims people from Sacramento, San Francisco and as far away as El Paso to staff the
office. I remember Floyd Parker, Alan Wickard and Ed Bickford from Sacramento and a
cute gal named Marini from El Paso,
- They set up in the Travelers Hotel, a local flop house. SP paid to have the lobby
thoroughly fumigated and restrooms cleaned and stocked. But soon discovered
residents stealing toilet paper and janitorial supplies, so they had to lock the
restrooms.
- For the first few weeks anybody could walk in and claim something and get $5,000
if they just signed a waiver. I remember a little elderly German guy from Marin
asking for a hotel – the place where they were giving away the free money.
- One guy who was in county jail at the time in Yreka for trying to kill an
associate with a home made bomb filed a claim.
- Residents from as divergent locations as Tacoma, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City had
claimed to have driven through Dunsmuir (on the day the freeway was closed I might
add) and were seeking claims.
- A woman living in Weed, about 12 miles north of us claimed her horse had had a
continuous erection since the spill - lawyers were naturally interested in this.
- those that made out were the ones that brought legitimate claims to the SP
- many held out for millions and wound up in a class action suit and most received
very little.

Meanwhile we were on the map. I remember at the time ordering something over the
phone. Before the spill we always had to spell the name of the town and tell people
it was “near Mt. Shasta.” After the spill the first reaction was “how are you, are
you still alive”

After a week, the Company sent up George Farosich to replace Taggert as the voice
of the SP for the spill. George held the title Senior AVP sales and was close to
retirement. He had been born at the old SP town of Port Costa on the Western
Division where his father had been yardmaster. One of the first things George did
when he came to town was call me.

The Shasta Divsion offices had been cut back. No full time officer on duty, no
secure phone lines or offices. I had a new house (just built that summer) with
computers, three phone lines, fax, and an established arrangement with San Francisco
- my house became the defacto mitigation offices. George Farosich, all the claims
people, President Mohan, Chairman Moyers, Mike Furtney, Ed McGrath from HRO law firm
in Denver, Paula Amanda, the FRA, various consultants, etc. all used my home office
as a touch point. I was on what they called the Reserve Board at Dunsmuir at the
time (getting paid to stay home so SP could go Conductor only on the division) and
once George got ahold of me I began working full time on the spill for SP as a
consultant as well.

George had earned his stripes wining and dining shippers aboard the business cars.
He tells the story of entertaining some Japanese auto manufacturers aboard the train
with all the silver and polish one might expect, in the company of VP Traffic Frank
Kriebel, VP Operations Dick Spence, General Manager R.L. King, and other high SP
officials. At one point, to the horror of those in attendance, Mr. Toyota picked up
a finger bowl filled with lemon-scented water with both hands and began to drink. As
the others looked on in horror, George thinking quickly, picked up his finger bowl
and began to drink as well. The others followed suit and an awkward situation was
diffused!

SP Business cars Airslie and Sunset were set up at Redding and night after night
George held court, entertaining local dignitaries, politicians, media and the like.
I watched him work. Before dinner, mixed drinks were freely dispensed in large glass
goblets and soon everyone was in the proper spirit—George included—laughing and
talking. However, the attendant on the cars told me later that, while George
appeared to be in the cups as much as everyone, he had specifically requested only
ginger ale on these occasions. Thus in this relaxed atmosphere people talked and
George listened.

One of the first big things we did was organize the Shasta Daylight Special or
“Dead Fish Daylight” over Labor Day Weekend with steam locomotive 4449.
- for three days we ran up and down the canyon giving free rides to the public,
media and politicians.
the public loved them, but the media concentrated on protestors against the train
and the politicians (who paid a token fare to be above suspicion) took notes.
- I learned a lesson here. When the media was around asking questions, all the SP
guys disappeared leaving me holding the bag!
- SP officials were on board the train as well, including President Mike Mohan. I
remember this because I was assigned the task to pick him up at the airport and I
locked us out of the Company Bronco.

- Mohan publically stated that SP would build a special containment wall bridge at
Cantara Loop. It was never built on SP’s watch due to a variety of reasons,
including Corps of Engineers review, stalling the project.
-But a number of projects were undertaken to provide and enhance recreational
opportunities until the river came back.
-A much-publicized River Clean Up eventually involved mostly SP MoW crews, intern
lawyers from Denver and a
- A new Camp Ground was opened down river at Sims in connection with Forest Service,
which is open today.

A considerable amount of time was invested in developing a trail to Symbol Rocks up
Little Castle Creek south of Dunsmuir. The trail was designed to access ancient
petroglyps scrawled on rocks near Castle Crags. The project was later dropped when
it became clear that the marks were in fact of recent origin, inspired by a book
written in 1926 by James Churchward entitled "The Lost Continent of Mu," and carved
by local high school students during a drunken spree in 1951.
One of the true scenic wonders of our area is Mossbrae Falls. This can only be
accessed by hiking up the railroad right-of-way some three miles north of town. I
might add that Union Pacific has posted this section of the railroad and is
currently vigorously enforcing it.

A trail was proposed that would link an existing trail to Mossbrae Falls without
trespassing on the railroad. The proposed trail required an easement across the old
Shasta Springs property, owned by the Saint Germain Society, locally known as the I
Am’ers—an obscure religious sect—since the late 1940s. We took their lawyer on a
hi-rail trip to check things out. The first thing he assured us was that “I’m not
one of them.” The plan was a very good idea, and would get hikers off the railroad
grade, but it fell through when the IAmers, which up to this point had not been
involved, decided to claim $385,000 in damages, and several million for the
easement.

Perhaps the most complex of these projects were the fishing ponds set up at Railroad
Park Resort south of town at the base of Castle Crags. These were opened at what
would have been the beginning of fishing season in April 1992. I was made manager of
the ponds, even though I had never done much fishing and never really cared for it.
Initially the state-operated Mt. Shasta fish hatchery was to stock the ponds, but
there were many problems...

The first load arrived and the high-priced SP marine biologist consultant, fearing
the fish would enter shock coming from cold water at the hatchery into the warmer
ponds set up wading pools for the transfer, the fish, starved for oxygen died by the
thousands leaping out of the wading pools.

Fish and Game had shocked the fish in the river above the spill, harvested them and
took them up to the hatchery and began raising them naturally to replenish the river
and ponds using something called “Atomic Fish Food.” The plan backfired when
lightening struck the hatchery killing all the fish. thereafter most of the fish
came from private hatcheries.

Despite these setbacks, the ponds were very successful. They were so well stocked
that anyone could easily catch their limit. In three years we had over 44,000
fishermen who caught over 81,000 fish. The data was carefully logged and forwarded
to SP lawyers each week.

Wise fisherman began to plan on fishing on days when the hatchery delivery truck
arrived. Some were fooled in this plan by the near look-alike port-a-potty septic
truck.

The ponds began attracting wildlife, foxes, bears, raccoons etc. which began to call
nightly for dinner. Osprey built nests at the ponds. One day a foreign lady was
standing under one of these nests when an osprey let loose with crap on her head –
the staff rushed to her horrified but she stated its OK OK in my country this is a
sign of “good luck.”
Even before the spill I had been on a local committee that had successfully applied
for a $600,000 ICET grant to build an Amtrak depot on SP property. Getting SP
permission to build was key, and we worked hard at getting SP, various lawyers and
the Dunsmuir City manager to reach a shaky agreement. In the midst of this, a local
woman marched down to the helper engine line in front of the depot and started
hitting the kill buttons on the sides of the units complaining of air pollution, one
of the units then rolled out to the west and hit the derail and went on the ground.
She then called the state Air Quality Board, which quickly launched an
investigation. This killed the depot project.

Meanwhile, the river, based on Fish & Game samplings, was all cleaned up by July 31,
1991. By October 1991, just three months after the spill, it was impossible for the
casual observer to tell that the river was dead. Swarms of black flies had returned,
as well as algae on the rocks, and fish small and large could be seen -perhaps some
had returned from tributary streams. To prove the point, a local photographer,
known as Photo Bob, staged a scantily-clad local girl waving at Cantara Loop with
the full cooperation of the SP crews. He later told me that she practiced the "wave"
for ten minutes before the train got there. At any rate, to us locals, the river
seemed to be on the road to recovery, but the issue would just not go away.

First off, the Spill was a “big deal” because it affected the water supply in the
North State in the fifth year of a drought, and nothing much else was happening
media-wise at the time. Second, at the root of all the chaos that ensued was the
promise of big corporate money. And with a willing media, and money you had the
makings of political dynamite.

In a saber rattling news conference, Calif. Attorney General Dan Lundgren threatened
to file criminal charges against SP and did in fact file a huge damage suit. Barbara
Boxer charged SP was trying to move equipment out of the river before the government
people arrived - which was nearly 12 hours later!!!. She also organized a quick
media visit to Dunsmuir. It was heavily publicized in the local paper that she would
be in town at such and such a time and date on a fact finding tour. I was there at
the meeting held at the local elementary school gym where she was to appear. Advance
crews were there some time before hand setting up lighting and cameras, arranging
props etc. A couple dozen people, including some with grievances, were there but it
was mostly lawyers, media and other hangers on. She was late and finally we heard
her helicopter land outside. In came Ms. Boxer and the makeup crews and advisers
worked with her for ten minutes before she finally got situated and the cameras were
rolling at which point she said quote “OK, bring on the sufferers.” After a half
hour or so, she was off in her helicopter with her sound bites.

SP wanted to restore the river back to the way it was - a family river where people
caught their limit and took them home- so they could have closure and file their
claim with their insurance carrier, which was Lloyds of London.

There developed a powerful opposing group, which wanted to see the river become what
is known as Catch and Release -for fly fishermen. Their principal spokesman was a
guy named Tom Hesseldenze, who had moved up from San Francisco to become involved
full time in the effort for an organization called CalTrout. Tom was a true back to
nature guy. I spent considerable time with him scouting trail, attending meetings
etc. He drank only pure spring water, was a strict vegetarian on camera eating whole
grains, granola, seeds and nuts. So I was surprised to see him one night at the
local Black Bear Diner for all-you-can-eat rib night. -We have photos of this!

This tension over how the river was to be restored became a political football as
George Farosich attempted to win endorsements from local government and business
groups.

Their was a total recall of the Dunsmuir City Council (over another issue) and the
newly-elected Council ultimately went against the railroad, another reason why the
new depot was never built.
Mt. Shasta was engaged in delicate negotiations to move the grade crossing flashers
out of the middle of Lake St. in downtown. The road had been widened but the city
council went against the railroad and until a year or two ago, the grade crossing
flashers were still in the middle of Lake St. as it narrowed to two lanes to cross
the railroad into the middle of downtown.

Meanwhile, a group of lawyers representing themselves as The Response Team for the
Chemically Injured, organized meetings in the towns along the river and the same day
a Dunsmuir resident opened an art show in Medford Oregon with horrific canvases
grouped under the title “Metam Sodium by products and other nightmares.” All of this
was closely followed by the media, as was the local political scene. Enflamed by
the media, Dunsmuir City Council meetings were standing room only. As I said,
ultimately the City Council was recalled in a viscous election (my wife was on the
council at the time) in the wake of the recall 15 people ran for the council, but
one by one they dropped out or disappeared. One man was wanted in Contra Costa
County. In the end the man that became mayor, a recent émigré from Marin, was
elected with the mandate of just 12 votes. Having arrived in town, two years after
the spill, he expressed his opinion that the SP had not done enough. This was the
only time I ever saw George Farosich loose his cool in public. He pushed the mayor
–we called him Oingo-Boingo- up against the wall in his place of business-a bar. SP
had spent millions by this time and George proceeded to give him the benefit of his
opinion!

California Department Fish & Game, which had suffered many staffing cutbacks in the
years prior to the spill saw the opportunity for a tremendous cash windfall. And
within the first six months of the disaster released a half inch thick document – or
“wish list” – Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan containing all of the studies
and procedures required, as well as budgets, to the tune of $8,983,000. Subtask VT4
“Ecological Process Monitoring” was typical of the studies: For an estimated cost of
$250,000, an array of cameras was to be set up along the river every ten miles that
were to be pre-programmed to shoot a photo upward into the tree canopy once every
seven days for five years to study trends in leaf growth. The Federal Government was
not far behind with their hand out.

This resulted in hearings before the California Fish & Game Commission, which were
held in Redding. It was a bit ironic, that these proceedings, which generally held
SP’s feet to the fire, were presided over by former Southern Pacific Chairman of the
Board Benjamin F. Biaginini, who was chairman of Fish & Game! We visited with him
one day at the meeting and he showed us his revolver. He told us he was one of very
few who were allowed to carry a concealed weapon in the City and County of San
Francisco. The subject of whether he felt he might need it at the hearings was not
brought up.

In the end, after much hand wringing the river was opened for catch and release
trout fishing (except for a six mile stretch around Dunsmuir which was open to
traditional fishing) on April 30, 1994. This paved the way for SP to file claims
with its insurer.

In a settlement reached in March 1994, SP agreed to pay $32 million to the state and
Federal Government over a five-year period. Much of this money paid for “overhead”
and projects unrelated to the Sacramento River, including an EPA Oil Spill
Liability Fund, a Mollusk Study on the Smith River, a Fish & Game Future Disasters
Fund, staff enhancements, etc. The Class Action lawsuit was settled for $14 million,
local claims prior to the settlement amounted to nearly $7 million. All this
amounted to approximately $49 million.

Total charges against GMO89748 ultimately, however, amounted to nearly $80 million.
I was talking old times with George Farosich a couple of years ago now retired in
Tucson, and I made a comment about all the thieves (thinking of the Politicians,
government agencies and bogus claimants). He agreed about the thieves, but was
referring to the SP lawyers, contractors and consultants etc.—George and myself
included!

The promoters for bungi jumping into the Sacramento River from Lake Siskiyou Dam
received nothing, as did those lobbying for osprey platforms on railroad right of
way.

All the money spent in and around Dunsmuir has had little effect on the town, Stan
the Fixit Man’s wife presumably still has diarriah, but the media has long since
lost interest. The population of the town has stayed the same, or dropped just a
little. When ordering something by mail order over the phone people no longer know
where Dunsmuir is.

In 1996 Union Pacific took over, and unaware of all the sensitive issues regarding
river access that the SP had fought valiantly for, immediately dispatched special
agents to post no trespassing signs from Delta all the way to Cantara Loop and began
evicting fisherman from railroad property. (For much of the way, the river is on
railroad property). But what the UP might lack in tact, they made up for in
political clout, engineering skill and cash and finally, in 2000, they did manage to
get a containment structure built at the loop.



John Signor

Thank you for posting this.
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Class act.

This is the material that was presented at the SPH&TS Convention last year in Portland. There's also some of Bob's Video that was used as an opener, a model tank car stringlining off a representation of Cantara Loop into the river below.
Will the video make it into the TO archives?

Quite informative!

Thank you for the info.

-Alex

Very interesting read, Bob, thanks for posting.

However, it kind of begs the question--will you tell the story of Charlie Babers and the windows in the Polly Coach? Sounds like it must be a good one.

--Mike

Man, like a pack of starving wolves fighting over one mouse. Money, money, money, gimmie money. The whole thing is really sickening. You just have to feel sorry for the "big friendly" SP.

Its great to see John asked you to post his experience Bob.
Just to keep it perfectly clear, the tank cars contents did not have any effect on the towns water supply. The water for Dunsmuir comes from a lava tube from Mt. Shasta that feeds Mossbrae falls above the river. In fact, someone is re opening the bottling plant at the Castle Rock water and is working on making the water they bottle "Spring water" status. This will mean the towns water source will be rated as spring water as they get their water from the same place as the bottling works. Nothing like bathing and brushing your teeth in spring water people in other parts of the country pay a dollar a bottle for.
http://castlerockwatercompany.com/contact-us/

See you at Railroad days
http://dunsmuirrailroaddays.org/

Dave

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Dave you left off another use for the water that isn't bottled.

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> Even though I assure you I was a solid "D" student in high school English...

As a fan of John's writings for many, many years, he gives eternal hope to us "A" students who are still only aspiring to be authors. Thanks for sharing this, Bob, and please extend thanks to John.