Chesapeale notebook: Ill-used Virginia river bounces back

VARINA PLANTATION, VA.

There used to be a joke about my native city that went "if you want to know what Richmond thinks of the James River, just try to find it." In the 1950s, the river within the city limits had railroad tracks down both banks, plus the remnants of the James and Kanawha Canal beside the tracks on the north side.

The only access was overgrown, forgotten land, and getting to it involved trespassing on one of the railroad rights of way. Because the city's sewage and stormwater ran through a combined system that overflowed into the James after heavy rains, we had to wash our hands after touching its...