Between 1929 and 1974, a chemical processing facility here dumped an estimated three pounds of mercury a day into the creek, resulting in hundreds of tons of toxic waste (the highest levels of mercury contamination in the nation) collecting in the sediments of Berry’s Creek. Called the Ventron Velsicol Site, named after the chemical companies that operated here, the now Superfunded location is owned by Morton International, the same company that built space shuttle boosters and sells consumer table salt. The buildings were demolished in 1974, and the clean-up of some of the sediments has recently begun, with contaminated soil shipped to a waste site in Quebec.