EDITOR'S NOTE: The Maryland Gazette has spent months probing the reasons behind decades of chronic pollution in Furnace, Marley and Rock creeks. In a two-part story, we explore the culprits and the possibility of a cure.

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George Gaither and his brother, Dennis, learned to swim in Furnace Creek, a stream that snakes out of Severn, past thickly developed suburbs and shopping centers in Glen Burnie and into Curtis Bay and the Patapsco River.

Sixty years ago, it was a vibrant body of water, a source of fun for area residents and filled with life.

"My dad would go through the weeds and look for soft-shelled crabs,"...