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160: Three & Four

“Most of them just go in the river, and they don’t come out.” – volunteer firefighter for Clarksburg, CA

While in the early stages of this project I was growing impatient with the outcome of my research so I decided I would try to talk to some locals or firefighters, sheriffs, really anyone who could tell me more about these stories. I had the small opportunity to talk to a volunteer firefighter for Clarksburg which is one of the bigger towns along this stretch of river. He was telling me how a couple of his high school classmates met an early fate here at the river road and how it had impacted him as a young person and I suppose I should have known better than to ask this but I asked what usually happens since hes one of the first people on the scene when these tragedies occur. He simply stated “Most of them just go in the river and don’t come out.” That was pretty much the thing that shut me up and thanked him for his time. I felt bad for prying out of curiosity and clearly he didn’t want to say more. I definitely learned to be a bit more cautious and respectful when researching these things, I can’t even imagine what people must go through.