Information on the 1991 Metam Sodium Spill that killed over 1 million fish as well as many other things in the river including many trees

partial quote from previous article: 

19 train cars derail near Dunsmuir on Cantara Loop

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https://www.redding.com › news › local › 2026/03/03

 

On July 14, 1991, freight cars on a Southern Pacific Railroad train overturned along the Cantara Loop, dumping more than 19,000 gallons of metam sodium into the Sacramento River. The herbicide flowed south for 20 or more miles into Lake Shasta.

The spill made Dunsmuir residents ill, killed more than a million fish, tens of thousands of amphibians and crayfish, millions of aquatic invertebrates including insects and mollusks, and hundreds of thousands of willow, alder and cottonwood trees. It took 12 years to rehabilitate the Sacramento River, according to a report from the Cantara Trustee Council, formed to address restoration and public education.