Part-time Rico resident Patrick Curran still remembers a beautiful evening on his mothers deck in Rico when he heard the story of the acid plant incident.
It was a story of a large corporation, pollution and how two people, fed up with it all, shut down the plant with shotguns in the small mining town.
Curran was intrigued.
His mother asked him to do a little research and write a pamphlet about the old acid mine in Rico.
Six years later, Curran has published Acid Reign and the Rise of the Eco-Outlaws, a 225-page book filled with research and colorful characters that bring the 1960s to life in Rico and tell a story of a large corporation that mined iron pyrite from deep inside the mountains to make sulfuric acid to be used to mine uranium during the Cold War.
It brings Rico to life and the characters that on Sept. 11, 1964, fed up with the ways of the plant, shut it down at gunpoint.
Its an amazing story, Curran said.
The book was published recently and is largely based on fact. Some of the characters names were changed, and some characters were compiled into one.
Most of what is in the book is true, Curran said.
The book is filled with dozens of historic photos of Rico and its people. It largely follows Johny Carnifax and Roy Loudermilk, who were workers at the acid plant and eventually helped shut it down with shotguns.
Curran said there had been legal injunctions and other actions against the plant before that was done, all to no avail.
Recently, Curran looked down from a Rico hillside and onto several settling ponds, colored yellow and orange with heavy metals.
That is where the acid plant was, he pointed out.
Some of the trees are still dead, killed by acid rain, he said.
And Rico is still embroiled in a battle to clean up the site.
You cant stop this, he said, pointing to orange water gushing out of an abandoned mine.
Miles and miles of tunnels under the hills of Rico have created acid mine drainage, he said.
Curran said he likes to picture the moment before the acid plant was shut down by these two characters.
They were up above the town. They could see the town blanketed in smoke, he said. It must have been an amazing moment.
Currans research for the book has led to a new exhibit at the Rico Museum titled The Acid Plant Incident.
The new exhibit has details of the plant and even Johny Carnifaxs shotgun.
