Wow. I'm from OK, I had never even heard of Picher. In middleschool we all had to take an Oklahoma History class. As an adult I keep learning more and more difficult and often tragic stories from the state that were not taught, or even more likely swept under the rug. Greed is a powerful force.
We have an old family friend who recently had to get chealation for high lead levels. I had mentioned Picher when it came up and after looking it up we found our friend had grown up in Iola, Kansas where the EPA recently declared a Superfund site for the lead and zinc smelting plants that contaminated the whole town.
The mine owners made their fortunes, then left the citizens to suffer the consequences, and taxpayers to fund the clean-up. Sadly, not much has changed in society.
@@danholm4952 Except for the fact that the US government used the metals from those mines for war. m And they licensed the mines. And regulated them. Oligarchy my ass.
I live probably 2,000 miles away from Oklahoma and have never even heard of this town and would never have if it wasn't for you doing this excellent story on it. Those mountains ⛰️ of waist dirt is unbelievable and I just couldn't imagine something like that being in my backyard but I guess it's all what you get used to. This is one of the best channels and i really appreciate the education that I have received from this channel and I really appreciate your hard work to bring everything to us. Thank you..
I toured that mine about 55 years ago and was enthralled. I even bought some ore samples. The guide had been a retired miner. A very sad situation for everyone involved.
In the early 60's I lived in the very north part of Miami. Tar Creek ran thru a field about 50 yards out our back door. As kids, we would play, swim & fish in that creek. We would ride dirt bikes all over the chat piles. It was a great playground for teens, never realizing what we were dealing with.
I grew up in Tulsa and rode quads/dirt bikes. I heard a lot of stories about riding on the chat piles. I never did, but remember dreaming of doing so. Glad I didn’t.
I went to Pitcher shortly after the 2008 tornado that ultimately brought an end to the town. It was absolutely horrific what that tornado did! It was tragic and sad to see a town end on a terrible note with a deadly tornado.
When I was about 11 or 12, we lived in Miami, Oklahoma. I remember my dad and us going there, we seen a couple of houses that had fallen into big sink holes. This was in the early 70’s.
I worked there in 2008 after the tornado. Worked for FEMA at the time. What a sad ending to the town. Met a lot of fine people that were trying to hold on to their lives. Thank you for the documentation that you have done.
Something to consider: Lead and zinc are absolutely vital to electric and automotive technology. lead Has been largely replaced, but metals like lithium and rare earths are just as dirty nd will create "New Picher" if no one keeps an eye on the downsides of technology.
We rode four wheelers 3 wheelers dirt bikes up and down the chat piles in the mid to late 90's get there early in the morning stop at the only grocery store left in town have Delhi sandwiches made then take off around the block to the East of the main road, where the steepest tallest chat piles were. They were challenging. I remember open Minecraft. We would drop rocks down and wait to listen to see how far they would fall. Went back after the tornado and they have hauled most of the chat piles off. They were gone. Great video thanks for producing it
Lived right by there, It was a strange feeling being in a empty town. Like the end of the world. empty homes etc. Had a few people still there when In like 2007... No electric, phones of course. Still have pics of the town...
I feel as though it’s a little bit of a evolved emotion and experience? Since our way of life isn’t super new the new technology has added another layer of complexity and individuality that is much more visible than a few centuries ago? Imo. But I don’t know much so I’m spitballin
Been there for track meets in High School back in 2007. It's pretty wild you can see the "chet" piles from way off, the first time I saw Pitcher I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The local legend is that it was possible to go from Miami to Webb City underground and I would be inclined to believe that. There are test holes all over the area. One of the reasons for shutting down the mines was the rate of inflow of the groundwater. The pumps finally couldn't keep up with it. He said that the cave ins started in the 90s but they were happening in the mid 70s.
I drove through Pitcher 4 or 5 years ago, no idea of it. As soon as I crossed the state line, I couldn't believe what I saw! Rolled up my windows and got through there as quick as I could! Only later (not much) did I look up what had happened. Sad looking place!
They buyout price was a problem because everyone around the area who had property for sale, increased their prices due to the rise in demand for housing. It was a compounding problem. Picher was not the only town "cleaned" by the EPA either. Many towns around the area were built on top of the chat or rock that was in those piles. They used it for decades as a base for construction and most of the roads in the area. We had air quality monitors all over our farm in the nearby town of Quapaw that showed levels almost as high as Picher's before they put all the rock back in the ground.
I've rode thru there many times in my motorcycle. A few years after the tornado, and a couple times a year since going from Texas to nebraska. Amazing the changes in the town from my first trip to currently
My grandmother grew up there. As kids they would literally take cardboard boxes and use them to slide down the chat piles like some toxic playground ride.
I live about 40 miles away and it is very spooky town I drove though it the other night heading back to a job in Baxter springs and you always wonder if the road is going to be their.
I literally asked someone I was riding with a couple weeks ago about this town, since I drive through it alot for work. So weird seeing all these dirt mounds all over this ghost town....
My dads family were also born in Picher. Circa 1920. Aunt died in 43, uncle in 77, dad in 88 and aunt at the turn of the century. She was the youngest and probably never played outside much for being so young.
Visited Picher a number of times back in the 70's. One time with my great uncle who was farmer over in Chetopa, Kansas not far from there. He pointed out the Funeral Home on main street and remarked "Notice It's the nicest building in Town", well that's partly because they had many a killen' down at the local bars. Did a lot of business. I think he was aware of the effects of the combination of alcohol and lead, (no pun intended), plus the hard life of those miners. Mixture couldn't have been good. Actually, went down in the "Tourist Mine" with my wife once, interesting experience. First thing you would see was a mule and think, either ducks or chickens. The tour guide explained that, if they were "Down", it would be wise to go back up...
I was born and reared in Carthage,MO. A Civil War town specifically revitalized for the mine owners to live away from the very roudy Joplin and Webb City whore houses (think Bonnie and Clyde, "Pretty Boy Floyd," Belle Star, John Dillenger all up and down Route 66). The "chat piles" made for great places to target practice until, among other places, the enormous gravel piles were recycled material for highways and....school playgrounds. It was emitting uranium into those little skinned knees. If the flooded mines under Joplin are ever drained, the whole town will implode. My grandfather talked about a veritable honeycomb under ground. Good luck with that.
Carthage also has the cold storage facility in the old Carthage Marble quarry. The Civil War museum is kind of small but that Courthouse and square is beautiful. Getting ready for the Maple Leaf Parade coming up. I haven’t missed very many times the last 30 years. But I stay clear of Carthage during Marion Days. I kind of enjoy going to Kellogg Lake for family gatherings. Schriber Cheese and Tyson’s kept a lot of people employed. Our house used to sit right where the airport is now.
My father came from Picher. Four kids born around 1920, my aunt, uncle and father all passed away young. The fourth sibling lived to over 85. She was the youngest and probably didn't play outside much. The oldest 3 passed away too soon.
I've lived in miami, ok my whole life and its so strange seeing picher as an actual functional town. its always been that place with the abandoned mineshafts and chat piles to me
From southeast kansas. I used to haul chat for bingham from the piles to an asphalt paving company in KC. Not sure if they still use it or not. They they would mix it with the asphalt for paving new roads.
crazy how just pulling dirt and rocks from below the surface to the top can cause such devastation to the environment being its just apart of earth to begin with when you think about it .
said they processed it there too. wasnt just mined. that pile of sediment he talked about was from ofc processing it. but yes as a whole i get what you mean.
@@matthewscarborough2597 The Hopi Indian prophecy featured in Reggio's video montage Koyaanisqatsi says: "if you dig precious things from the ground you invite disaster". Where did all the stories of goblins and dragons lurking underground come from? That lore is as old and as wide spread as humanity itself.
@@Paciat processing involves turning rock into a fine grained sand. So anything else in it, including toxic substances, are much more likely to wash away into the local water. In metal mining, there are often other minerals present that are not removed. Tailings piles often create very acidic water with arsenic in it.
@@Paciat not true, the processing of the zinc created zinc oxide which can kill you and the lead was lead II sulfide which is basically harmless until it was refined.
i grew up about 35 northwest of Picher in SE, Kansas. My mom would take us over Miami Ok to shop and we would rive through Picher on the way. It was freaky in those days to see all those mountains chat around the town. There was a tourist mine at the intersection of OLD US66 and US 69. I was always asking my mom so we could tour it but she never stopped.
Bone growth in the ears is also known as surfer's ear or cold water swimmer's ear. It develops when you swim or surf in cold water and wind blows across your ears
Most people don’t think of mining as central to the economies of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. University of Missouri - Rolla was Missouri School of Mines prior to its inclusion into the University of Missouri system. It was primarily a mining engineering school. Even in the early 1900’s many saw working in the Tri-State lead mines as a death sentence. My Grandfather worked the pitcher mines in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He died of Silicosis and TB in the mid 1930’s. The demise of lead mining in Missouri and the Tri-State area was primarily based on the economics of lead mining post WW2. It cost of removing water from the mines became prohibitive. As one commenter states. The mine owners chose to live primarily in Carthage. The built fancy Victorian homes that ardor the community. Joplin,served as a rail head for the area and was notorious as center for illicit entertainment and escape for various criminal elements being close to the border of three states. The largest community in Jasper County. However Carthage was the county seat. Joplin remains the largest “city” in the Tri-State area. While mining was a core employer up to WW2. By the 1930’s the Chemical industry took hold between Joplin and Carthage. Atlas Chemical and Hercules opened plants to manufacture explosives. Initially this supported mining. But with the beginning of WW2 they ultimately generated product to support the war effort. Atlas is long gone and only Hercules remains. In the 1940’s through the 1960’s the trucking industry developed in the area that specialized in the transport of Atlas and Hercules products. Even though Atlas is gone and Hercules is diminished, the trucking industry has become central to the economy of the area.
There are still a lot of mines south southeast of Rolla. They just closed lead mines that I know of. And you can hear the university still detonate explosives at their test mine but not as much as they used to. And I'm only talking last within the last 10 years.
I've been there before on a college geography class trip and it was a dozy of a tour seeing the giant mounds and seeing that its getting more recognition and coverage is a great thing. Sitting in during the tour in that white tundra seeing the water truck spraying down the roads in order to prevent dust flying into the air i remember what the driver said to our 3 person group(professor and 2 students) from North West Arkansas Community College " you don't know that you don't know". There doing great work our their and I'll never forget the last spot of our tour the pond. That pond they told has cleared of the pollution all the way down to bedrock one of the clean sites in Pitcher and hopefully more of that will come.
Been there many times. I used to play on the chat piles when I was kid. People used to ride their motorcycles up and down them. All fenced off now. Now days I just pass through it on my way to Miami when I go snagging spoonbill. Modern day Ghost town.
Should look at the New Jersey Zinc plant that was in Palmerton PA. It was across the Lehigh river from the Blue Mountain/Appalachian Trail and left the mountain barren for miles. Driving past it all the time, the mountain in that area was just bare rock and very old dead trees. There are some films from back when that show the level of pollution output before regulations. Still a lot of superfund there.
I remember Picher before the tornado, after the tornado, and today as well. It’s truly sad. The EPA has been doing a massive cleanup job there and hopefully one day it will be complete. This is hearsay from a friend that ducks unlimited wanted to buy it out and put in several ponds with natural vegetation that would clean the water of its contaminates and by the last pond be drinkable but apparently the tribe was not willing to sell it out. It would have changed the migration of the birds and brought in tourism and jobs for the area. There is also history of murder and missing girls supposedly in mine shafts never to be found again. There are a few people left in picher most of the roads are blocked off with fell trees, boulders, concrete barriers and fence. It’s sad that they had to put up the fencing to keep people from wandering in there to commit suicide. The area is patrolled by the Quapaw Marshals.
I remember people using the chat piles as playgrounds for trials motorcycles. There are potential sinkholes collapses under the highway going thru town. Another thing was it impacted the water table miles away. Near Afton was a spring, it held artifacts from Indians who threw Mastodon teeth, stone tools, arrowheads, etc into this spring, apparently as a sacrifice. It was excavated about 1900 by the Smithsonian. But about 1915-20, the spring dried up and is no longer visible. This was attributed to the change in the unconfined aquifer with mining. That's 15 miles away or so.
Me being a resident of a town about 100 miles from Picher drew me to watch this video. I'm not going to subscribe because you are not clear in the beginning about how the brothers actually got to the location of the town. Yes it's obvious that's where the minerals were but you stated Webb City was where the company was based. When it comes to history I want details and this video was vague. I hope other's get more than me because I won't be watching this to the end. Now I'll dig for the whole story myself- no pun intended.
Actually, Eagle Picher uses already processed materials. There’s no mining in the Joplin area. Know what we used to call Joplin and Galena?. Sodom and Galena. I have 3 rental properties in Joplin and in the early 90’s, the EPA removed about 18 inches of soil from around my houses and brought in clean fill. I have several old hand dug mines on my property off of BeefBranch road south of Joplin. Several years ago, Newton county wanted to tax my 45 acres as agricultural land and shoot my taxes up. The Commissioner came and walked the property with me then dropped the agricultural crap and deemed it reclamated mining land. The EPA spent a lot of money in Joplin cleaning up contaminated soil.
it's a research and development facility now. they make batteries and weapons components and that type of stuff. i think they like to send batteries into space or something. idk, tho really. i've never made it much farther than the front desk and i don't even remember why i went inside there. lol
"children" of 12 years old working in a mine was normal across the country at the time. most humans in the country practiced the believe that boys of 12 years old were expected to start helping to support their families.
Crossed over from Treece KS on US 69 in September 2020 on my motorcycle. The Treece Holy Trinity Church just 200 feet from the state line is just an empty lot and a sign.
Between 1951 and 1958 my family drove every summer from Minneapolis to Oklahoma to our grandparents' house where we (the children) would spend the summer. We took US 69 right through Picher. The huge piles of mine tailings were obvious beside the road and every time we passed through, I would beg my father to stop so we could see the mines. Finally one year he consented, and we took a tour. I remember going down a shaft with an elevator, and the caverns that were carved out with giant pillars left to hold the ceiling up. Later in the 1970's I read about the ecological catastrophe that had been produced by the abandoned mines.
As a child we see trains ( KATY as well as Southern Pacific ) just loaded to the hilt going South to McAlester, Ok. to the munition plant, to bombs / shells. I Lived in Checotah, due South of Picher on US 69, We have a Great Engineering University ( OK St U ) and they are not being utilized? In the removal of the toxic waste? Thank-you for the informative video.
My mother in law and her siblings would be sent down to Pícher in the 70s to spend the summer with family. She tells me how they used to play on the chet piles.
I'm from this area, and yet every time I come across a video on Picher, I learn something new. I'm excited to check out more content on your channel after watching this. I'm curious about the map shown at 2:42 in the video. Do you have a link to it? In all my time researching this area, I haven't seen that map before.
Picher was also known for its high-sulfur bituminous. When it got wet, the sulfur would leach out, turning the lumps bright yellow. I know this from some leftovers in the tender of an Eagle Picher decapod steam locomotive.
I moved here to galena, now in Joplin 9 years ago. Ever since I moved here I’ve been sick with severe allergic reactions to things I’ve never had problems before. I developed asthma and need medications now I never did before. The wind blows here very fast. 30-50 mph is normal. I’ve always thought those chat piles have caused it. We rent here thankfully, so we can leave sometime, but I would never ever buy a house here because of mines everywhere. They find them when they dig holes for bridge work deep enough and find out they’re not even on geological maps.
When you use a map to illustrate an area, and you zoom in on it, the least you can do is outline the area in question so that we might better envision its scale and geometry. Thanks.
I came through this town on my way back from Yellowstone to Atlanta ! We stopped in winedot Ok ! We quickly figured out we were passing through a ghost town ! At the time we didn’t know anything about this town very sad ! And very creepy
I grew up in Tulsa, but heard stories back in the 80s of riding dirt bikes/ATVs on the chat piles. I always wanted to ride there, glad I didn’t though!😢
I own land on the bank of tar Creek 20 miles down from picher... It's still highly contaminated unfortunately and it floods often so the land is basically worthless
My Grandparents ran a grocery store in picher from 1920 to 1945 that said the end building at the left of the screen at 7:19 was their store in the early 1990s my father took me on a show me where he came from trip and we wandered all over that area i can remember the ground vibrating every time a big truck went by and Dad telling me that because the ground was so undermined was why it shook like it did really spooky feeling Peace
I met a man from Picher who worked in the fosil fuel industry. He told me all about the industry, pollution, and cancer. I was with my mom at a cancer treatment center. He was there receiving treatment. Interestingly, there were also numerous government employees who told me how much pollution they dealt with. Pollution they worked around. Pollution buried and hidden!
Wow. I'm from OK, I had never even heard of Picher. In middleschool we all had to take an Oklahoma History class. As an adult I keep learning more and more difficult and often tragic stories from the state that were not taught, or even more likely swept under the rug. Greed is a powerful force.
@@filmsbydiek7316 imagine how REAL history is being buried now that the GOP is trying to change it..
Yes, almost all of the toxic contamination and other disasters that have occurred in America have their roots in greed. 😢
@boblatkey7160 don't forget "and swept under the rug".
Greed is true evil .
I'm sorry you are from OK. I truly understand why you left.
We have an old family friend who recently had to get chealation for high lead levels. I had mentioned Picher when it came up and after looking it up we found our friend had grown up in Iola, Kansas where the EPA recently declared a Superfund site for the lead and zinc smelting plants that contaminated the whole town.
I'm not too far from Iola. I'm in fall river.
The mine owners made their fortunes, then left the citizens to suffer the consequences, and taxpayers to fund the clean-up.
Sadly, not much has changed in society.
yep.. the gilded age /oligarchy..
And the US Government was the biggest customer. Don't forget that.
@@danholm4952 Except for the fact that the US government used the metals from those mines for war. m And they licensed the mines. And regulated them. Oligarchy my ass.
Gotta love capitalism at all costs
East Palestine, Ohio. Another example of the government turning its back on people who are suffering.
I live probably 2,000 miles away from Oklahoma and have never even heard of this town and would never have if it wasn't for you doing this excellent story on it. Those mountains ⛰️ of waist dirt is unbelievable and I just couldn't imagine something like that being in my backyard but I guess it's all what you get used to. This is one of the best channels and i really appreciate the education that I have received from this channel and I really appreciate your hard work to bring everything to us.
Thank you..
"waste"
@SuperMadman41 Thank you Miz crabapple for correcting me, I must of been thinking about my wife's tiny little sexy waist when I wrote that..
I toured that mine about 55 years ago and was enthralled. I even bought some ore samples. The guide had been a retired miner. A very sad situation for everyone involved.
In the early 60's I lived in the very north part of Miami. Tar Creek ran thru a field about 50 yards out our back door. As kids, we would play, swim & fish in that creek. We would ride dirt bikes all over the chat piles. It was a great playground for teens, never realizing what we were dealing with.
I grew up in Tulsa and rode quads/dirt bikes. I heard a lot of stories about riding on the chat piles. I never did, but remember dreaming of doing so. Glad I didn’t.
Am concerned of the kids riding their dirt bikes up the chat piles. Hope they do not have any lingering ailments.
I went to Pitcher shortly after the 2008 tornado that ultimately brought an end to the town. It was absolutely horrific what that tornado did! It was tragic and sad to see a town end on a terrible note with a deadly tornado.
It's almost like Earth systems are sent to cleanse wounded areas.
@@Fido-vm9zi most tornadoes hit unpopulated areas. Mother nature really showed them trees, grasslands and crops
my dad was born and raised in pitcher my grandfather was a machinist in the mines we use to play on the chat piles.
When I was about 11 or 12, we lived in Miami, Oklahoma. I remember my dad and us going there, we seen a couple of houses that had fallen into big sink holes. This was in the early 70’s.
I worked there in 2008 after the tornado. Worked for FEMA at the time. What a sad ending to the town. Met a lot of fine people that were trying to hold on to their lives.
Thank you for the documentation that you have done.
Something to consider: Lead and zinc are absolutely vital to electric and automotive technology. lead Has been largely replaced, but metals like lithium and rare earths are just as dirty nd will create "New Picher" if no one keeps an eye on the downsides of technology.
You mean just as dirty if mankind continues to be greedy and not practice basic and known industrial hygiene practices.
Is lithium mining the problem itself? Or are they mining for lithium on salt flats where the land is already salted and destroyed?
We rode four wheelers 3 wheelers dirt bikes up and down the chat piles in the mid to late 90's get there early in the morning stop at the only grocery store left in town have Delhi sandwiches made then take off around the block to the East of the main road, where the steepest tallest chat piles were. They were challenging. I remember open Minecraft. We would drop rocks down and wait to listen to see how far they would fall. Went back after the tornado and they have hauled most of the chat piles off. They were gone. Great video thanks for producing it
Thank you for covering the disastrous handling of Picher, OK! More Americans need to know about it!
Lived right by there, It was a strange feeling being in a empty town. Like the end of the world. empty homes etc. Had a few people still there when In like 2007... No electric, phones of course. Still have pics of the town...
I feel as though it’s a little bit of a evolved emotion and experience? Since our way of life isn’t super new the new technology has added another layer of complexity and individuality that is much more visible than a few centuries ago? Imo. But I don’t know much so I’m spitballin
Excellent as always. Thanks for the upload!
My pleasure!
Been there for track meets in High School back in 2007. It's pretty wild you can see the "chet" piles from way off, the first time I saw Pitcher I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The local legend is that it was possible to go from Miami to Webb City underground and I would be inclined to believe that. There are test holes all over the area. One of the reasons for shutting down the mines was the rate of inflow of the groundwater. The pumps finally couldn't keep up with it.
He said that the cave ins started in the 90s but they were happening in the mid 70s.
I live near here, the ammount of chat exported to make many driveways is something not often talked about.
I drove through Pitcher 4 or 5 years ago, no idea of it. As soon as I crossed the state line, I couldn't believe what I saw! Rolled up my windows and got through there as quick as I could!
Only later (not much) did I look up what had happened. Sad looking place!
My father was born in Pitcher in 1919. He swam in the water as a teen and worked in the mines.
You forgot the part where the Quapaw Indians were forced onto the land against their will. Then kicked out when it was realized the land had value.
Plunder. All that freedom crap was a front for naked greed
That was a long time ago. That’s what happens when a people is stuck in the past.
The Quapaw tribe is doing just fine . . . if not better than ever.
@@csb11676 The Downstream Casino is making money hand over fist for them.
@@csb11676, really? Better then ever? You sure about that?
this is the cost of war, but we not ready for that conversation
I thought I knew my Picher but its very beginning was new. Thanks.
Thankyou. Great video. I didn’t think it was going to be very interesting. It was. I really enjoyed your narration. 👍🙏
They buyout price was a problem because everyone around the area who had property for sale, increased their prices due to the rise in demand for housing. It was a compounding problem. Picher was not the only town "cleaned" by the EPA either. Many towns around the area were built on top of the chat or rock that was in those piles. They used it for decades as a base for construction and most of the roads in the area. We had air quality monitors all over our farm in the nearby town of Quapaw that showed levels almost as high as Picher's before they put all the rock back in the ground.
Was randomly recommended this today. Fascinating history channel. Subscribed!
Awesome, thank you!
I've rode thru there many times in my motorcycle. A few years after the tornado, and a couple times a year since going from Texas to nebraska. Amazing the changes in the town from my first trip to currently
My mother was born in nearby Cardin. I drove through it a few years ago. Unbelievable.
My grandmother grew up there. As kids they would literally take cardboard boxes and use them to slide down the chat piles like some toxic playground ride.
I live in Miami ,Oklahoma, and worked at the hospital when that tornado wiped out Picher. You couldn’t get me to drive in that area.
I live about 40 miles away and it is very spooky town I drove though it the other night heading back to a job in Baxter springs and you always wonder if the road is going to be their.
Thank you again for the Midwest. This one is about 40 miles away and a disaster.
I literally asked someone I was riding with a couple weeks ago about this town, since I drive through it alot for work. So weird seeing all these dirt mounds all over this ghost town....
Chat piles, essentially mine tailings.
I've been wondering about all these super fun sites the EPA has been talking about, can't wait to go there!
Pack yer bags, darlin! We're goin to oklahoma!!
They're not "super fun" but "super-fund" sites.
@@TheKuptis Woooooooosh
He’ll yeah bro!!!!! They should start hosting a Fyre Fest at different EPA super fun sites every year!
come hang out under the praying hands in webb city. it's still super fun here. lol
Grew up in Baxter Springs, just up the road. Interesting history there.
That was very interesting to watch, My wifes father was born in Picher, as his father was a miner there for most of his life.
My dads family were also born in Picher. Circa 1920. Aunt died in 43, uncle in 77, dad in 88 and aunt at the turn of the century. She was the youngest and probably never played outside much for being so young.
Visited Picher a number of times back in the 70's. One time with my great uncle who was farmer over in Chetopa, Kansas not far from there. He pointed out the Funeral Home on main street and remarked "Notice It's the nicest building in Town", well that's partly because they had many a killen' down at the local bars. Did a lot of business. I think he was aware of the effects of the combination of alcohol and lead, (no pun intended), plus the hard life of those miners. Mixture couldn't have been good. Actually, went down in the "Tourist Mine" with my wife once, interesting experience. First thing you would see was a mule and think, either ducks or chickens. The tour guide explained that, if they were "Down", it would be wise to go back up...
Fascinating video! This is my first time seeing your channel, but definitely not my last!
I was born and reared in Carthage,MO. A Civil War town specifically revitalized for the mine owners to live away from the very roudy Joplin and Webb City whore houses (think Bonnie and Clyde, "Pretty Boy Floyd," Belle Star, John Dillenger all up and down Route 66). The "chat piles" made for great places to target practice until, among other places, the enormous gravel piles were recycled material for highways and....school playgrounds. It was emitting uranium into those little skinned knees. If the flooded mines under Joplin are ever drained, the whole town will implode. My grandfather talked about a veritable honeycomb under ground. Good luck with that.
Battlefield mo here neighbor!
Carthage also has the cold storage facility in the old Carthage Marble quarry. The Civil War museum is kind of small but that Courthouse and square is beautiful. Getting ready for the Maple Leaf Parade coming up. I haven’t missed very many times the last 30 years. But I stay clear of Carthage during Marion Days. I kind of enjoy going to Kellogg Lake for family gatherings. Schriber Cheese and Tyson’s kept a lot of people employed. Our house used to sit right where the airport is now.
Carthage is now the place people are moving away from.
Typical carthage arrogance and major embellishing of facts and truth.
My father came from Picher. Four kids born around 1920, my aunt, uncle and father all passed away young. The fourth sibling lived to over 85. She was the youngest and probably didn't play outside much. The oldest 3 passed away too soon.
I've lived in miami, ok my whole life and its so strange seeing picher as an actual functional town. its always been that place with the abandoned mineshafts and chat piles to me
From southeast kansas. I used to haul chat for bingham from the piles to an asphalt paving company in KC. Not sure if they still use it or not. They they would mix it with the asphalt for paving new roads.
EPA made them stop.
crazy how just pulling dirt and rocks from below the surface to the top can cause such devastation to the environment being its just apart of earth to begin with when you think about it .
said they processed it there too. wasnt just mined.
that pile of sediment he talked about was from ofc processing it.
but yes as a whole i get what you mean.
@@FastDuDeJiunn Processing means separating lead and zing from the earth. So processing that ore made it less toxic.
@@matthewscarborough2597 The Hopi Indian prophecy featured in Reggio's video montage Koyaanisqatsi says: "if you dig precious things from the ground you invite disaster".
Where did all the stories of goblins and dragons lurking underground come from? That lore is as old and as wide spread as humanity itself.
@@Paciat processing involves turning rock into a fine grained sand. So anything else in it, including toxic substances, are much more likely to wash away into the local water. In metal mining, there are often other minerals present that are not removed. Tailings piles often create very acidic water with arsenic in it.
@@Paciat not true, the processing of the zinc created zinc oxide which can kill you and the lead was lead II sulfide which is basically harmless until it was refined.
I have family that grew up and still live in Southwest missouri, can you do an episode that highlights that part that you quickly glazed over?
i grew up about 35 northwest of Picher in SE, Kansas. My mom would take us over Miami Ok to shop and we would rive through Picher on the way. It was freaky in those days to see all those mountains chat around the town. There was a tourist mine at the intersection of OLD US66 and US 69. I was always asking my mom so we could tour it but she never stopped.
Ever listen to james mcmurty, Choctaw bingo. I'm in 417 and the song is a banger😂
This is what happens when there are no regulations.
Do Onondaga Lake Syracuse NY. They're still cleaning it up now. It's a good story.
Curious how far waste piles were spread by to 08 tornado.
The tornado turned up enough top soil in Joplin to significantly raise the lead in the air for quite a while. It didn't need any help from Oklahoma.
@@countryjoe3551 that was two different tornadoes.
I hope I continue to have a home here
Bone growth in the ears is also known as surfer's ear or cold water swimmer's ear. It develops when you swim or surf in cold water and wind blows across your ears
Most people don’t think of mining as central to the economies of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. University of Missouri - Rolla was Missouri School of Mines prior to its inclusion into the University of Missouri system. It was primarily a mining engineering school. Even in the early 1900’s many saw working in the Tri-State lead mines as a death sentence. My Grandfather worked the pitcher mines in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He died of Silicosis and TB in the mid 1930’s. The demise of lead mining in Missouri and the Tri-State area was primarily based on the economics of lead mining post WW2. It cost of removing water from the mines became prohibitive. As one commenter states. The mine owners chose to live primarily in Carthage. The built fancy Victorian homes that ardor the community. Joplin,served as a rail head for the area and was notorious as center for illicit entertainment and escape for various criminal elements being close to the border of three states. The largest community in Jasper County. However Carthage was the county seat. Joplin remains the largest “city” in the Tri-State area. While mining was a core employer up to WW2. By the 1930’s the Chemical industry took hold between Joplin and Carthage. Atlas Chemical and Hercules opened plants to manufacture explosives. Initially this supported mining. But with the beginning of WW2 they ultimately generated product to support the war effort. Atlas is long gone and only Hercules remains. In the 1940’s through the 1960’s the trucking industry developed in the area that specialized in the transport of Atlas and Hercules products. Even though Atlas is gone and Hercules is diminished, the trucking industry has become central to the economy of the area.
There are still a lot of mines south southeast of Rolla. They just closed lead mines that I know of.
And you can hear the university still detonate explosives at their test mine but not as much as they used to. And I'm only talking last within the last 10 years.
I've been there before on a college geography class trip and it was a dozy of a tour seeing the giant mounds and seeing that its getting more recognition and coverage is a great thing. Sitting in during the tour in that white tundra seeing the water truck spraying down the roads in order to prevent dust flying into the air i remember what the driver said to our 3 person group(professor and 2 students) from North West Arkansas Community College " you don't know that you don't know". There doing great work our their and I'll never forget the last spot of our tour the pond. That pond they told has cleared of the pollution all the way down to bedrock one of the clean sites in Pitcher and hopefully more of that will come.
I live about 20 miles from a superfund site. The Klau mercury mine.
a town that mines lead had increased lead in the soil? no shit!
Been there many times. I used to play on the chat piles when I was kid. People used to ride their motorcycles up and down them. All fenced off now. Now days I just pass through it on my way to Miami when I go snagging spoonbill. Modern day Ghost town.
Excellent documentary! Just subscribed.
I have family living in Miami, Ok. That's about 10 miles away. I have driven on the old highway that ran through the city.
Should look at the New Jersey Zinc plant that was in Palmerton PA. It was across the Lehigh river from the Blue Mountain/Appalachian Trail and left the mountain barren for miles. Driving past it all the time, the mountain in that area was just bare rock and very old dead trees. There are some films from back when that show the level of pollution output before regulations. Still a lot of superfund there.
I remember Picher before the tornado, after the tornado, and today as well. It’s truly sad. The EPA has been doing a massive cleanup job there and hopefully one day it will be complete. This is hearsay from a friend that ducks unlimited wanted to buy it out and put in several ponds with natural vegetation that would clean the water of its contaminates and by the last pond be drinkable but apparently the tribe was not willing to sell it out. It would have changed the migration of the birds and brought in tourism and jobs for the area. There is also history of murder and missing girls supposedly in mine shafts never to be found again. There are a few people left in picher most of the roads are blocked off with fell trees, boulders, concrete barriers and fence. It’s sad that they had to put up the fencing to keep people from wandering in there to commit suicide. The area is patrolled by the Quapaw Marshals.
I remember people using the chat piles as playgrounds for trials motorcycles. There are potential sinkholes collapses under the highway going thru town. Another thing was it impacted the water table miles away. Near Afton was a spring, it held artifacts from Indians who threw Mastodon teeth, stone tools, arrowheads, etc into this spring, apparently as a sacrifice. It was excavated about 1900 by the Smithsonian. But about 1915-20, the spring dried up and is no longer visible. This was attributed to the change in the unconfined aquifer with mining. That's 15 miles away or so.
I've been hauling chat off those piles to highway projects all over OK, KS, MO, and NE for 20 years. They never seem to get ant smaller either.
Me being a resident of a town about 100 miles from Picher drew me to watch this video. I'm not going to subscribe because you are not clear in the beginning about how the brothers actually got to the location of the town. Yes it's obvious that's where the minerals were but you stated Webb City was where the company was based. When it comes to history I want details and this video was vague. I hope other's get more than me because I won't be watching this to the end. Now I'll dig for the whole story myself- no pun intended.
You are a very Inspirational Engine!
Eagle-Picher still has lead mining operations in Joplin Missouri in 2024
Also the namesake of galena mo😂
Actually, Eagle Picher uses already processed materials. There’s no mining in the Joplin area. Know what we used to call Joplin and Galena?. Sodom and Galena. I have 3 rental properties in Joplin and in the early 90’s, the EPA removed about 18 inches of soil from around my houses and brought in clean fill. I have several old hand dug mines on my property off of BeefBranch road south of Joplin. Several years ago, Newton county wanted to tax my 45 acres as agricultural land and shoot my taxes up. The Commissioner came and walked the property with me then dropped the agricultural crap and deemed it reclamated mining land. The EPA spent a lot of money in Joplin cleaning up contaminated soil.
it's a research and development facility now. they make batteries and weapons components and that type of stuff. i think they like to send batteries into space or something. idk, tho really. i've never made it much farther than the front desk and i don't even remember why i went inside there. lol
"children" of 12 years old working in a mine was normal across the country at the time. most humans in the country practiced the believe that boys of 12 years old were expected to start helping to support their families.
Crossed over from Treece KS on US 69 in September 2020 on my motorcycle. The Treece Holy Trinity Church just 200 feet from the state line is just an empty lot and a sign.
Between 1951 and 1958 my family drove every summer from Minneapolis to Oklahoma to our grandparents' house where we (the children) would spend the summer. We took US 69 right through Picher. The huge piles of mine tailings were obvious beside the road and every time we passed through, I would beg my father to stop so we could see the mines. Finally one year he consented, and we took a tour. I remember going down a shaft with an elevator, and the caverns that were carved out with giant pillars left to hold the ceiling up. Later in the 1970's I read about the ecological catastrophe that had been produced by the abandoned mines.
A bit like Gilman Colorado. I have been near Picher but not stopped to look. I will make a stop. Great video.
As a child we see trains ( KATY as well as Southern Pacific ) just loaded to the hilt going South to McAlester, Ok. to the munition plant, to bombs / shells. I Lived in Checotah, due South of Picher on US 69, We have a Great Engineering University ( OK St U ) and they are not being utilized? In the removal of the toxic waste? Thank-you for the informative video.
Never heard of this place! Great story!
Some people became very rich and then left a mess for others to deal with.
🙏 about the neighbors
Excellent video!
This situation as well as the dust bowl is how our government handles climate crisis.
What a horrible story. God, what an absolute nightmare! Great job.
Eagle Picher is still in operation in Joplin. They made parts for NASA and their space shuttle. Wiring harnesses and batteries.
Used to load at Treece just over the line. Was told all the time to stay in the truck and DO NOT walk around because of sinkholes.
My mother in law and her siblings would be sent down to Pícher in the 70s to spend the summer with family. She tells me how they used to play on the chet piles.
My family would go to picher every summer for a month to visit my aunt Faye. My brother and I played many times on those piles
@ I hope you didn’t have any medical issues from playing on the piles 🙏🏼
I'm from this area, and yet every time I come across a video on Picher, I learn something new. I'm excited to check out more content on your channel after watching this.
I'm curious about the map shown at 2:42 in the video. Do you have a link to it? In all my time researching this area, I haven't seen that map before.
Picher was also known for its high-sulfur bituminous. When it got wet, the sulfur would leach out, turning the lumps bright yellow. I know this from some leftovers in the tender of an Eagle Picher decapod steam locomotive.
Excellent Video
It's actually PICHER.
Drove through Pitcher a couple years ago to take some drone photos. Those piles are still there, just not as large.
I moved here to galena, now in Joplin 9 years ago. Ever since I moved here I’ve been sick with severe allergic reactions to things I’ve never had problems before. I developed asthma and need medications now I never did before. The wind blows here very fast. 30-50 mph is normal. I’ve always thought those chat piles have caused it.
We rent here thankfully, so we can leave sometime, but I would never ever buy a house here because of mines everywhere. They find them when they dig holes for bridge work deep enough and find out they’re not even on geological maps.
When you use a map to illustrate an area, and you zoom in on it, the least you can do is outline the area in question so that we might better envision its scale and geometry. Thanks.
"Chat", the waste from the mining and smelting, was sold for railroad ballast and use for roads.
Many other places in the world are similar 😢
Pitcher isn’t the only ghost town in the area. Don’t forget Cardin and Douthat. That area is a mess. It happens though.
I came through this town on my way back from Yellowstone to Atlanta ! We stopped in winedot Ok ! We quickly figured out we were passing through a ghost town ! At the time we didn’t know anything about this town very sad ! And very creepy
Thank you sir 🙏
If mining companies had to clean up after themselves they'd never be profitable.
I grew up in Tulsa, but heard stories back in the 80s of riding dirt bikes/ATVs on the chat piles. I always wanted to ride there, glad I didn’t though!😢
Sad to think how many were affected by lead poisoning in the 20th century. Not just in the mining towns, but every where. 😢
I live about 130 Mi East near Branson Missouri and I know that there are abandon lead and zinc mines around the area
Again "GREAT" subject matter, thanks Professor Socash have a "GREAT WEEK-END and a better Week, until next time again be at Peace and stay Safe...
Anything to say about sink holes? I wouldn't want to be you,ty Missouri
Goober!
Anyone else notice the side by side pictures in 2008 Pitcher looked brown and dead everywhere but in 2024 Pitcher looks green and vibrant?
Just imagine....someday people will stumble on the land & have absolutely no idea what occurred. Probably happened frequently in history.
Different seasons.
We accidentally drove through there today. Nothing is growing around there. That was the first thing that caught my eye in the area.
I own land on the bank of tar Creek 20 miles down from picher... It's still highly contaminated unfortunately and it floods often so the land is basically worthless
My Grandparents ran a grocery store in picher from 1920 to 1945 that said the end building at the left of the screen at 7:19 was their store in the early 1990s my father took me on a show me where he came from trip and we wandered all over that area i can remember the ground vibrating every time a big truck went by and Dad telling me that because the ground was so undermined was why it shook like it did really spooky feeling Peace
Well done.
Industry is paid for by the lives of the lower and middle class while the rich and those in power reap the benefits without consequence.
I met a man from Picher who worked in the fosil fuel industry. He told me all about the industry, pollution, and cancer. I was with my mom at a cancer treatment center. He was there receiving treatment. Interestingly, there were also numerous government employees who told me how much pollution they dealt with. Pollution they worked around. Pollution buried and hidden!
Many government employees diagnosed with cancer!