I canoe to work.

Each morning, except when the Potomac is ice-bound or in flood, either alone or with one or two friends, I park my car on MacArthur Boulevard, hike across two footbridges, take the rope-drawn ferry to Sycamore Island, launch my canoe on the quiet waters of the Potomac and paddle across to the Virginia shore. Once there, I chain the canoe to a tree, hide the paddles, and hike up through the woods, along the George Washington Memorial Parkway and into the north gate of the Central Intelligence Agency's grounds. In the evenings I reverse the pattern.

All year around, canoeing is far superior to all other means of commuting. There are no problems of skidding in the snow storms and in times of high water we merely use the eddies and backwaters behind Ruppert Island to make our way up stream before ferrying across the flood to the Virginia shore. We often wonder what the traffic helicopters overhead think of us -- but find the wildlife, birds and flowers far more interesting and attractive. Unpredicted windstorms -- and high waves on the Potomac -- have given us pause, but nothing can undercut the satisfaction the canoe pool has provided.

Canoeing to work has opened up the way to some of the best experiences of life in Washington: The Sycamore Island Canoe Club, the Canoe Cruisers Association, and all the pleasures of white water canoeing. It also provided the foundation for the Top Secret Slurry Caper.

"Pulp Run" is a small year-round streamlet, unnamed on local maps, which winds through the northern Virginia countryside and across the old Leiter estate to enter the Potomac River between Turkey Run and Little Falls Rapids. The ruin of an old summer cottage -- a fine old stone chimney -- stands on its western shore and the now-abandoned National Capital Park Trails #1 and #2 cross its mouth. In the 1930s the water from this stream, and the spring at its source, was so pure that Sycamore Islanders used to paddle or row across the river to bring back with them jugs full for their drinking water.

Modernization, progress, the population explosion and big government have overtaken the area, and Pulp Run's drainage basin has been vastly changed, although the Potomac Palisades through which it cuts remain largely untouched. It is second growth woodland: sycamore, hickory, persimmon and pawpaw, together with the fallen hulks of old chestnut scattered along its shore. The Leiter mansion is gone, destroyed by fire, and the George Washington Memorial Parkway runs along the crest of the palisade, bridging Pulp Run with a culvert. Back further from the river, the massive Central Intelligence Agency headquarters building sits firmly astride the Pulp Run Valley and, once again, Pulp Run follows its natural course some thirty to fifty feet below the new ground level. As has always been the case, Pulp Run carries the runoff from the rains and serves as the local storm sewer. The reshaping of the land contours and the large-scale paving operations which accompanied the building process sharply changed the runoff patterns, bringing heavier water flows after each storm and increased erosion but, by-and-large, the visual quality of the water was remarkably unchanged. It remained cool, fresh and transparent -- a lovely natural stream of water.

Apparently catastrophe struck Pulp Run in the 1960s, when, in a move which reduced air pollution and allowed for the recycling of paper products, the CIA switched from burning its classified waste to reducing it to pulp through a chemical process. The General Services Administration now takes this pulp, solidifies it, introduces seeds and fertilizer, and spreads it over the strip mine area of West Virginia. Periodically, however, (and it frequently appeared to be a daily event) the pulping tanks have had to be washed out. Quite naturally, this washing water was allowed to flow into the established drain in the basement floor; and this basement drain, designed to carry off the runoff from rain storms and normal water spillages, connected into the storm sewer. The water and its slurry of pulp thus disappeared deep underground in the Agency's basement. Although it was not observed by the pulpers -- Pulp Run emerges only after it leaves the Agency grounds, out beyond the fence deep in the woods -- the stream was turned periodically into a discolored sewer. In the mornings, as a rule, the water ran clear and clean. In the afternoons, however, it became thick with a slurry of paper particles. The CIA was putting into the Potomac its own unique industrial waste of Top Secret Pulp.

All this went unnoticed for about five years -- it was a small thing in the life of the Potomac -- except when an occasional canoeist or walker stumbled into the stream by mistake. Then in April, 1971, we three Agency officers who had been canoeing to work (for pleasure and exercise) shifted our landing place to the mouth of Pulp Run.

Indignant at first, like other canoeists before us, we soon turned to exploration and ultimately to the conclusion that our Agency was guilty of the pollution. I, who have always enjoyed doing battle with windmills -- with the nameless, faceless "they," "them," and "it" of large bureaucracies, launched a campaign to clean up this small but irritating addition to the Potomac's problems.

It was predictable that the faceless bureaucrats quickly disappeared to be replaced by individuals just as concerned and disturbed about the problems as I was. Each in his own way, however, was struggling with the procedural problems of a large organization -- with the further problems of dealing with other large organizations: The General Services Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Fairfax County Authorities. As a matter of record, all of these organizations have shown a real and constructive concern for the reduction of environmental pollution.

I was greeted with skepticism, cool reserve, and what I sensed as a degree of hostility on my first, and only, meeting with the officers charged with handling the Pulp Run Problem. Who was this nut, they seemed to be asking, who was stirring up trouble over such a minor thing as a storm sewer? I pointed to the exact location of the problem on an Agency map -- and this was duly recorded with a red grease pencil on an acetate overlay. I volunteered to report regularly on the state of the stream, since I planned to observe it each morning and evening, and left the problem in the hands of the bureaucracy.

The next morning all the coolness, skepticism and hostility evaporated. I was told that I was absolutely right. We were polluting the stream. Top Secret Pulp was the cause. I was urged to have patience. The problem was far more complex than, on the surface, it might seem. Paper pulp has the characteristic of clogging up sewer lines and turning rock-hard. The bureaucratic process is, at best, slow and involved. Nonetheless, something would be done. Indeed, I remained patient -- what else could be done? -- but chose to provide the information I had promised on the on-going state of the stream and its pulp content in written reports and occasional phone calls. Frustration and irritation sometimes surfaced in the eight letters I filed between May 10 and December 13. Progress seemed almost nonexistent after the first flurry of activity which resulted in filters being placed in the pulping plant's storm sewer. I learned indirectly, however, that my letters were having an effect even though they brought no replies. They were being used as ammunition: in negotiations with the county authorities. I regained a degree of patience needed.

Patience was rewarded. On December 29 my phone rang. "John, you will be pleased to know that as of December 22 the overflow from the pulping process has been diverted from the storm sewer into the Fairfax County sewer system." Since then Pulp Run has been running clear.

Although I had begun to fear that action would never come, I am impressed, after the fact, that seven months is a surprisingly short period in which to have budged a large bureaucracy. I found later that the actual cash outlay for the hookup into the sewer system was about $2,000 -- a small price to pay -- and that the delay, if it can be so designated, was only a wait for official authorization to arrive from the county for the connection.

My correspondence on this Pulp Run Issue follows. It tells the story. I would be fascinated to know what other communications, in-house and interagency, went into the Top Secret Slurry Caper.

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
May 10, 1971

Dear Mr. S.

I thought I'd give you a progress report on the state of the stream and the flow of the Top Secret pulp into the Potomac River. I recognize that there has not been the time to install the filter designed to keep the pulp from the river, but I thought you'd be interested in one week's observation.

On Monday mornings, last week and today, the stream runs clear and seems to remain in that state through some time Tuesday. From Wednesday through Friday, especially in the afternoons, the stream gets progressively heavier with pulp -- to the point where it makes a very distinct color change in the water at the mouth of the stream and out into the river. It soon is so diluted and mixed, however, that it is lost in the general flow of the river.

Despite the variations in the color of the water through the week, the sedimentary deposits of pulp on the bank and in the stream bottom and out into the river are quite permanent -- and thoroughly unpleasant to the touch. It will take quite a time of natural flushing through heavy rains to clear the area up.

I am glad that steps are being taken to stop this element of pollution from going into the river. Two points puzzle me still. First, how did it happen that the washings from our pulping process were ever allowed to flow, untreated, into a natural stream? Second, will the filtering of the pulp out of the wash return adequately pure water to the stream or are we still adding possibly dangerous wastes to the river, now in a clear form?

Finally, I must admit that I find it delightful that, like the mines which add acids to the river, the farms with their excessive nitrates, and the suburban homes with their phosphates, CIA's unique form of industrial waste should be Top Secret Pulp.

Sincerely, JST

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
May 21, 1971

Dear Mr. S.

Herewith my second report on the state of Agency pollution on the stream running into the Potomac.

It is my impression that conditions have improved, although the stream water is not yet clear in the afternoons. At the moment there appears to be little or none of the Top Secret Pulp flowing down into the river. I trust this means that the filter you referred to has been installed. Whether from this filter or from the excessive rainfall of the past few days, the effluent coming down the stream is now only a pale milky color.

I am delighted with the apparent improvement, but the question still remains to bother me. How is it that we are putting untreated, though filtered, waste into the Potomac? If the water is the rinse from the pulping tanks, isn't it still filled with chemicals? And, if so, aren't we still engaged in an improper use of the natural stream and river?

I have moved, on assignment. Though this complicates and lengthens my commuting time, I intend to continue my canoeing to and from work and will thus be able to keep you informed on the state of the stream through the summer.

Sincerely, JST

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
May 28, 1971

Dear Mr. S.

My report to you last Friday on the pollution problem in the stream flowing into the Potomac was overly optimistic. To my regret, I can say only that I see little change from the situation before I drew the problem to your attention almost a month ago. If a filter has in fact been installed, it has made little or no improvement.

Friday afternoon, May 21, the stream was as white with pulp as it has been any time since I started observing it. As I was canoeing this section of the river on Saturday, I checked it again -- and still the stream ran white. Monday the water was largely clear but the stream bed, washed relatively clean by earlier rains, was starting to fill with the slime I noted earlier. I missed on Tuesday since I came to the office by car, but on Wednesday in the morning the stream was turning milky again. In the afternoon it was as thick as it had been the preceding Friday. Thursday morning and evening the water in the stream was relatively clear but at noon, observed from the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the stream was filled with the whiteness of the pulp.

I cannot urge too strongly effective action to stop this unnecessary and irresponsible pollution by the Agency. Aside from endangering of the water supply, which I must assume to exist, this action is bound to bring undesirable publicity to the Agency. The state of the stream can be observed from the highway itself and, beyond this, more and more walkers, strolling along the shore from Turkey Run Picnic Area, are going to be upset by the appearance of the shore line where the pulp flows into the Potomac.

Sincerely, JST

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
June 19, 1971

Dear Mr. S.

The story in the POST this morning: "City Warned: Keep Out of River, Creek" stirred me to further action on this issue of pollution in the Potomac. I'm attaching a copy of the notes from two separate phone calls I made, both because I think you'll be interested and in order to show that, if I'm a nut on the issue of pollution, I'm a balanced nut. I object to exaggeration of the dangers as much as I do to adding anything to our problems. I'm exceedingly anxious that we tackle the problems of pollution in such a way that the whole area will benefit through improved water conditions, and not through the closing of recreational facilities.

Obviously my concerns are much more deep-seated than mere personal irritation over the looks of the little stream at the landing point on the Virginia shores. I'm in or on the river most of my free time and spend a good deal of time introducing more people to its pleasures. This past weekend, for example, I was the instructor in a class for beginning white-water canoeists -- we had some seventy Grumman canoes in the program at Old Angler's Inn -- and then spent Sunday morning taking members of the Montgomery County Council on a tour of facilities near Seneca -- and down the old Patowmack Canal on the Virginia shores. The whole of the river valley is too beautiful to be tampered with either through carelessness about small quantities of waste or excessive officious regulation of its use.

To bring you up to date on the state of the small stream, I'm convinced that there has been a marked improvement. Nonetheless, there is still a sporadic failure of the filter system, or whatever. Wednesday of last week, as you already know, the water was quite clear, although it was markedly cloudy by evening. Thursday in the evening the amount of gunk in the stream was as bad as I've seen it since the start of this "campaign" of mine. On Friday, though, the water was quite good and only mildly cloudy in the evening. This morning, for what it is worth, the water was clear again.

Thanks for letting me know that the representative of the Environmental Protection Agency was checking on the quality of our waste in the stream. I'll be most interested in hearing his findings.

Sincerely, JST

Mrs. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
September 22, 1972

Dear Mr. S.

First, let me congratulate you on the general condition of "Pulp Run." Over the past three months since I last reported to you, the stream has been running clear most of the time. On the occasions when it is evident that the pulping tanks have been washed down, the degree of pollution is such that the water has only turned a milky white temporarily. We have not had the recurrence of the thick white pulp residue which was common back in April before I drew this to your attention. The environmental conditions within the run are not perfect, naturally, but we have come a long way toward restoring the natural situation.

You would probably be interested to know that back in the 1930s and early 1940s Pulp Run was so pure that Sycamore Islanders used to row across the river to draw their drinking water from the stream. Naturally -- and sadly -- we now rely on our own well and a chlorinating system instead.

My silence over these past weeks has been caused by a number of different factors. The most important of these has been my sense that every time I plan to write a congratulatory note to you the stream turns up particularly messy as I pass it on the way home! In addition, however, the canoe pool has been disrupted by a number of things. One member, Joe M. retired and all of us have had breaks for vacation time. Most serious, though, was the fact that my canoe was stolen (Complaint #19,922 to the U.S. Park Police!) in the middle of July.

I am back in business again with a new canoe -- and will report to you at odd intervals when there is something to note. In the meantime, my thanks to you for the interest and concern you have shown for this problem of pollution.

Sincerely, JST

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
October 1, 1971

Dear Mr. S

My reluctance to write you a note last week -- for fear that it would upset the nice balance and start a flow of washings from the pulping tank down through the small stream -- was justified. Starting Thursday, September 23, the stream has been going from bad to worse. Herewith my account:

I fear that there has been a rather serious slippage from the standards you set. I trust you can get them back on the track -- because it is a lovely little stream when it is clear.

I'll keep my reports flowing to you through the winter -- unless you'd prefer I sent them to someone else.

Sincerely, JST

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
October 21, 1971


Dear Mr. S,

I was most pleased to have chatted with you on the state of the stream -- to learn that efforts continue to clear up our contribution to the Potomac's pollution and to learn that my notes may have been of some use to the engineers. I'm attaching a more-or-less day-by-day account of the stream from the first of the month. The days without observation are either weekends or those times when I've had to have the car at the office. A pattern emerges, or appears to. It seems to me that the filters start out quite effective, and then become progressively more unsatisfactory. Finally, it would seem, we almost get back to conditions predating the installations of the filters. And then, once they have been cleaned, things are relatively good again. Even so, I must add that I continue to object to the washings when the stream is no more discolored than a very heavily watered skimmed milk.

Sincerely, JST

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
December 13, 1971

Dear Mr. S.

My silence of the past six weeks indicates neither declining interest in the state of Pulp Run nor satisfaction with the progress which has been made toward elimination of the waste from the stream. To the contrary, my concern remains high, and I expect that over the next few weeks I shall be observing the stream's state more closely again.

I have been pleased, indeed, to hear reverberations from my letter-writing campaign. Tony Z., with whom I spent 20 days of a seminar, tells me that his area is the end user of my letters; that they become ammunition in discussions with county officials. A young officer tells of hearing that "the canoeists" are bringing pressure for pollution control. I do hope that all this will lead to the elimination of the overflow.

My recent observations of the stream have been more irregular than usual but the pattern remains consistent. The mornings are good -- the water clear. The afternoons are bad with varying amounts of pulp and whitened water flowing into the river. High water and heavy rainfall has helped, but the flow down through the woods is not sufficient to flush out the settled paper pulp -- although the erosion in this small stream has been considerable over the past year.

It has now been about seven months since I first started reporting on our Agency pollution problem and, as you know, I've been most pleased with the efforts which have been made to abate the flow into the stream. I know, of course, that the wheels of bureaucracy, like the mills of the gods, grind slowly. I do hope, though, that we can ultimately find the way to tie into the public sewer system instead of the river.

Sincerely, JST

Mr. Charles S.
Office of Logistics and Supply
Dear Mr. S.

December 30, 1971

I don't know when I have received a phone call which has pleased and delighted me so much as yours of yesterday. My heartiest congratulations to you and all our Agency people who have put their thought and effort into diverting the SCMAT slurry from Pulp Run into the Fairfax sewer system.

My paddling has been somewhat irregular recently, but I thought things were changing. On the 21st the old pattern of clear-water mornings and milky afternoons seemed to hold. On the 23rd I wasn't sure, but I thought it might be improving, and on Tuesday, the 28th (the next day I could paddle) I was certain that, indeed, something had changed the quality of the water remarkably. It was beautifully clear this morning. It will take a heavy rainstorm or two to wash out the remaining sediment, but that will come shortly. I shall now have to think up a more fitting name for our little stream.

You may be interested in some of the attractions of commuting by canoe-- in addition to the physical exercise and the environmental improvement campaign which I enjoy. The spring flowers along the river bank and the stream bed are lovely in April and early May. In the late summer and fall we've found an abundance of wild fruit -- raspberries, pawpaws, and wild persimmons -- and hickory nuts. Along our path up the hill we've had the nest of a Carolina wren hidden in the roots of a large tree and were able to observe it from the first egg to a nest full of ravenous young birds. Flood waters knocked us out of our paddling routine for about two weeks so we never saw the young birds take off and fly. Bird life on the river has included mergansers and Canada geese, several varieties of duck and smaller water fowl, gulls and two beautiful blue heron that fly heavily along the river shore.

Our concern for the problems of pollution should not blind us to the fact that fishing in this area of the Potomac is quite good and that wildlife is returning. Ten years ago, when three of us first started canoeing to work, we once saw a deer along the shore. Raccoons and muskrat are plentiful and, I guess, always have been. Recent returnees include both beaver and otter. The number of trees felled by beaver on the river islands and the Maryland shore, and most recently on the Virginia shore is almost alarming. Finally, this morning I saw my first beaver swimming upstream, in the middle of the Potomac. As I approached him in my canoe, he dove for safety, giving a sharp smack to the surface of the water with his tail. It was about six weeks ago that I saw my first otter, also swimming upstream. He, too, dove to get away from me, making a sleek arc of brown as he went under.

Along with these specific attractions, the never-ending changes in the atmosphere and the weather are a continuous pleasure -- and sometimes a challenge. (We drive to work if it is raining in the morning but, if it rains in the afternoon, I always try to get my canoe back to the safety of Sycamore Island. Even in broad daylight I had one canoe stolen from the Virginia shore where it had been chained to a tree.) A few days ago when we had a particularly heavy fog on the river we very nearly paddled in a complete circle -- and ultimately made our way to the proper shore and our stream-mouth landing by relying on the sound of Little Falls Rapids to guide us. We kept the roar of the water to our left as we paddled.

Once again, my deepest thanks and warmest congratulations to you, and to our Agency, for responding so well to this minor aspect of the truly important problem of protecting and improving our environment. It has given me a great deal of faith in our sensitivity and our willingness to take corrective actions.

A happy New Year to you. Come down and visit our stream in 1972. It is a lovely sight and now will be even more beautiful.

Very Sincerely, John Seabury Thomson