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Picher, OK: The most polluted ghost town in America
Posted on 9/6/23 at 8:47 am
Posted on 9/6/23 at 8:47 am
Huge lead and zinc deposits found in the early 20th century and mining companies descended onto the area like locusts, stripping away all they could find and leaving massive chat piles (lead and zinc tailings) all around the area. The mines ran dry in 1974 and they left the area, leaving their swath of waste across the landscape.
Ground water is contaminated with lead.
In 1990, 40% of the kids were diagnosed with lead poisoning.
Ground water is contaminated with lead.
In 1990, 40% of the kids were diagnosed with lead poisoning.
quote:
Picher is a ghost town and former city in Ottawa County, northeastern Oklahoma, United States. It was a major national center of lead and zinc mining for more than 100 years in the heart of the Tri-State Mining District.
The decades of unrestricted subsurface excavation dangerously undermined most of Picher's town buildings and left giant piles of toxic metal-contaminated mine tailings (known as chat) heaped throughout the area. The discovery of the cave-in risks, groundwater contamination, and health effects associated with the chat piles (children playing on the piles and putting it in their sandboxes, as they did not know the toxic danger) and subsurface shafts resulted in the site being included in 1980 in the Tar Creek Superfund site by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
16
Posted on 9/6/23 at 8:49 am to LSUAlum2001
Another PG&E in the making.
Erin, where you at?!
Erin, where you at?!
Posted on 9/6/23 at 8:51 am to LSUAlum2001
I feel like this is very Oklahoma.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 8:57 am to LSUAlum2001
crazy to see some of these old mining towns, just left to rot. similar to seeing some of the towns in russia just left to rot. crazy
Posted on 9/6/23 at 8:59 am to LSUAlum2001
Sounds like the mini-ghost version of Butte Montana with its toxic pit and people still living there
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:01 am to LSUAlum2001
Giant back yard discs. Haven’t seen that in ages
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:02 am to LSUAlum2001
Easy fix for this to see if a fair number of minorities are affected by this.
Calling for the situation to be racist somehow is usually a fast way to get national attention and a quicker fix
Calling for the situation to be racist somehow is usually a fast way to get national attention and a quicker fix
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:10 am to LSUAlum2001
That second picture doesn't look abandoned. There appears to be solar panels on one of the roofs.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:17 am to LSUAlum2001
Not much different looking than Chef Menteur Highway
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:20 am to LSUAlum2001
NOLA accomplished most polluted with no help from miners at all. Just the local population pissing and vomiting in the streets.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:31 am to PetroBabich
quote:
That second picture doesn't look abandoned. There appears to be solar panels on one of the roofs.
I'd recommend Google Mapping/Google Street View....this town is very much abandoned and mostly demolished.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:33 am to lsu777
quote:
crazy to see some of these old mining towns, just left to rot. similar to seeing some of the towns in russia just left to rot. crazy
Should have been around the middle of the country when oil went bust from $34/bbl to $14/bbl. 1 of the largest mobile home financing was in Tulsa and they literally covered 3+ square miles outside the city with repo’s packed together so close the doors were not able to open. They repo’d entire towns (former boss @ bank I worked was the mobile home finance field collector) some states lost significant percentages of people moving for work, like 10-25%.
I had just started to LaTech for PetEngr and by start of the Winter Semester the entire department was shutting down. January’83 was hard times. Imagine like 2000 Ruston sized places just abandoned overnight. Like some post apocalyptic movie scenes, lucky to even see a stray dog/cat.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:37 am to GetCocky11
quote:
this town is very much abandoned and mostly demolished.
Yeah, it's mostly slabs. It's on the route between Kansas City and Tulsa (Hwy. 69 BTW) and I've been through several times. Creepy as hell, I had to look it up the first time.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:42 am to LSUAlum2001
Mickey Mantle grew up next door in Commerce and his dad worked these mines.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:44 am to Tigris
quote:
Yeah, it's mostly slabs. It's on the route between Kansas City and Tulsa (Hwy. 69 BTW) and I've been through several times. Creepy as hell, I had to look it up the first time.
The street view has views from 2008 and 2023, and the differences are very striking.
Looks like someone has been mowing the high school that closed in 2009 though. Some people just can't let go.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 9:57 am to LSUAlum2001
It is abandoned. There were a few people living in Treece, KS after the EPA bought out the residents in Picher, OK. Picher and Treece were essentially the same town in 2 different states. Everyone’s gone now. Some areas are blocked and are in an active remediation indefinitely. Some areas you can drive by and still see what’s left.
A unique situation with the 2 towns had everyone fired up when the government handled the buyouts poorly. Oklahoma is in Region 6 of the EPA and had decided to buy out everyone in Picher, OK. Treece, KS is in region 7 of the EPA and the government did not initially buy out their residents. The Picher side of the line had all of the grocery stores, gas stations, etc. It was pretty wild that the EPA didn’t even communicate within itself to handle that better. Not surprising at all, but still wild nonetheless.
A unique situation with the 2 towns had everyone fired up when the government handled the buyouts poorly. Oklahoma is in Region 6 of the EPA and had decided to buy out everyone in Picher, OK. Treece, KS is in region 7 of the EPA and the government did not initially buy out their residents. The Picher side of the line had all of the grocery stores, gas stations, etc. It was pretty wild that the EPA didn’t even communicate within itself to handle that better. Not surprising at all, but still wild nonetheless.
Posted on 9/6/23 at 10:06 am to LSUAlum2001
Thats an eerie place to drive through
Conjures up images of what I think a zombie apocalypse would look like
Conjures up images of what I think a zombie apocalypse would look like
Posted on 9/6/23 at 10:15 am to LSUAlum2001
Yeah, but those baws could play some ball. 
Posted on 9/6/23 at 10:16 am to RobbBobb
quote:
Thats an eerie place to drive through Conjures up images of what I think a zombie apocalypse would look like
Centralia, PA is bad too. It’s like the game Silent Hill come to life.
Coal Fire from hell
Posted on 9/6/23 at 10:18 am to LSUAlum2001
Looks like there is available housing for the homeless.
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