1877: First paper mill on river (Berlin, N.H.)

1901: Lewiston switches to Lake Auburn for drinking water. Had been using Androscoggin; people complained about “unpleasant taste.”

1930: First major river study by Cornell University. Verdict: while “heavily polluted, the situation was not serious at that time.”

1941: Year of the worst smell. Public riled.

1942: Attorney General’s Office asks Maine Supreme Court to intervene; sets limits for how much “sulfite liquor waste” Berlin, Rumford and Jay can discharge.

1958: Last year Bates professor records “objectionable odor” coming off the river in downtown L-A.

1965: Big three paper companies dump 89 tons of sulfite liquor waste into river each week, down from 5,820 tons a week in 1941.

1970: Appears in “Newsweek” magazine as one of “America’s 10 filthiest rivers.”

1972: Clean Water Act, championed by Sen. Edmund Muskie, orders industries and municipalities to clean up. Muskie grew up next to the Androscoggin in Rumford.

1973: Author of “Flow East: A Look at Our North Atlantic Rivers” canoes the river and describes it as “a torrent of foul and sulfurous soup.”

1982: First Androscoggin Challenge Triathlon, includes canoeing the river. More than 100 teams compete.

1986: State classifies as Class C, swimmable and fishable (parts still fail to meet that today).

1992: Aeration system installed in Gulf Island Pond, considered the worst stretch of river; “immediate improvements in dissolved oxygen in the pond,” but “little improvement since.”

1995: Annual Androscoggin Source to the Sea canoe trek begins.

1989: Legislation in place to reduce color, odor and foam caused by discharges from mills.

1997: Legislation prohibits discharge of dioxin in the river.

2000: Rumford erects memorial to Edmund S. Muskie.

2005: State, industry and environmentalists wrangle over strict discharge limits for the remaining mills.

2010: Year the river is due to meet Class C standards around Gulf Island Pond.

Source: Maine Department of Environmental Protection; “A Twenty-Five Year Review of Androscoggin River Pollution Control Activities” and “Androscoggin River Pulp and Paper Industry and Pollution Abatement 1942-1977” both by Walter A. Lawrance, from The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library at Bates College; and Sun Journal archives

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