The Androscoggin River, like many American rivers that fueled the Industrial Revolution, has a complex history. Once considered one of the top ten most polluted rivers in the country, it received most of its pollution from paper mills along its banks, whose discharges ranged from sewage to sulfite. The effects were severe: paint peeled off houses, fish died, household silverware tarnished overnight, and the smell traveled miles; the river was said to be "too thick to paddle, too thin to plow." Rumford native Senator Edmund Muskie spearheaded passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972, and as a result the river has been partially restored, many fish populations have returned, and it again provides wildlife habitat and opportunities for recreation.