 The clear @-@ cutting of forests in the 19th century adversely affected the ecology of the Plunketts Creek watershed and its water quality . <unk> industries on the creek and its tributaries then included a coal mine and tannery ( which are long since departed ) . In the autumn of 1897 , three men working with hides at the Proctor tannery were stricken with anthrax , two fatally . Another four deaths originally blamed on pneumonia were suspected of being due to pulmonary anthrax , and some cattle drinking from Plunketts Creek downstream from the tannery were also infected . As late as 1959 , the sludge pile from the tannery was still visible in Proctor , but was not disturbed for fear of anthrax spores . No acid mine drainage is reported in the watershed . 
