[Goodpasture]

Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research

The Tar Creek Superfund site, also known as the Picher Lead/Zinc Mining District, is located in the far northeastern corner of Oklahoma (Figure 1) near the Oklahoma/Kansas border. The site is part of the Tri-State Mining District that includes areas of Kansas and Missouri and was one of the world’s largest lead and zinc mining areas. Mining activity in this area began in 1891 and continued up until the 1970’s during which an estimated 1.7 million tons of lead and 8.8 million tons of zinc were produced. [/mod] Please provide only a short quote of the article and then provide a link. We are having some serious copyright issues. Thank you

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The Results of Mining at Tar Creek

removed due to copyright issues[mod]

The main intersection of Picher




House with chat pile behind it




Chat pile




Chat pile




chat pile behind houses




abandoned houses......they used to be homes



main street Picher




main street Cardin




Sunset at the C Store with chat pile in the back ground




Local architecture




Tar Creek coming from the chat piles and underground aquifer




Tar Creek pond with chat pile behind

Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. --Seattle

Where is the picture of Iron Eyes Cody? He is needed here, for the Quapaw..........

[J double R]

wow... that's nuts! i have a very close friend here who grew up in Picher.. she's actually there visiting now, i'll have to ask her about it when she gets back.

[cindycat]

I grew up in Miami in the 50's-early 60's. Big sport was to go play on the chat piles. Back then no one thought anything about health problems. I heard they were also a good make-out spot but I was never invited. The mine owners were smart, though. The one name that comes to mind is the Colemans. The theater and radio station are named after them. They built a big home in the Rockdale area of Miami, ten miles away from the mines in Picher and Cardin.

On a smaller scale, the father of one of my friends owned a mine named after her - the Nancy Jane - and we got to go down in it. It was grade school...vague memories...kind of fading away.....

[_redbird_]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research

The Results of Mining at Tar Creek

I bet they all got off scott-free too. Including the BIA.

The BIA has a long history of criminal conduct. The BIA used to get cattle for the reservation and sell all the good ones for their own profit, and leave the old and sick cattle to be butchered by the Indians.

The BIA took my father at age 5 without his parents knowledge or permission and put him in a boarding school in the 1930's. The list goes on and on. Sterilization of Indian women without their consent, billions of dollars missing from Native American Trust, etc.

It'll come back on them. What goes around....

Billions Missing From U.S. Indian Trust Fund

[EarthBound?]

Goodpasture,

Is it my understanding that the majority of the residents are Native Americans in this area in which your posting is about?

Dear God, I'll never understand why this so called gonernment of ours does what it does and can sleep at nite with a clear conscious. They can build billion dallor medical facilities in Washington for a handfull of politicians and thier families, state of the art no doubt. But they won't take care of those who really built this country, the people. They will waste trillions of tax payers hard earned money on a useless war, and won't help those that they are sworn to protect. Then they allow big Corperation to just destroy everything in their paths, land, lives and cultures and then have the nerve to just look the other way.

What ever happened to "A GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND OF THE PEOPLE". Words on a pieces of old paper that might as well be burned, as well as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and many others like them. It really saddens me to see our Nation crumble before our eyes and NO ONE is seeing it happen, because the almighty dallor has blinded us.

Goodpasture, thank you for sharing that article with us.

[karibear]

The Tar Creek Superfund site, also known as the Picher Lead/Zinc Mining District, is located in the far northeastern corner of Oklahoma near the Oklahoma/Kansas border. The site is part of the Tri-State Mining District that includes areas of Kansas and Missouri and was one of the world’s largest lead and zinc mining areas. Mining activity in this area began in 1891 and continued up until the 1970’s during which an estimated 1.7 million tons of lead and 8.8 million tons of zinc were produced.
The Tar Creek Superfund site is now one of the largest Superfund sites in the United States covering an area of approximately 50 square miles and estimated costs of remediation and monitoring ranging from $540 million to $61.3 billion. It was added to the EPA’s Superfund National Priority List on September 8, 1983.
The site is situated in northern Ottawa County and encompasses the towns of Picher, Cardin, Quapaw, Commerce, and portions of North Miami. Approximately 6,400 residents live within the site boundaries.

DH's grandfather was half Cherokee, half Quapaw. The family came from around there, and DH spent most of the summers his early years [and some school time] around there. I don't think he'd be thrilled to see it now.

[Goodpasture]

Originally Posted by SeabeeBolt

Goodpasture,

Is it my understanding that the majority of the residents are Native Americans in this area in which your posting is about?

Dear God, I'll never understand why this so called gonernment of ours does what it does and can sleep at nite with a clear conscious. They can build billion dallor medical facilities in Washington for a handfull of politicians and thier families, state of the art no doubt. But they won't take care of those who really built this country, the people. They will waste trillions of tax payers hard earned money on a useless war, and won't help those that they are sworn to protect. Then they allow big Corperation to just destroy everything in their paths, land, lives and cultures and then have the nerve to just look the other way.

What ever happened to "A GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND OF THE PEOPLE". Words on a pieces of old paper that might as well be burned, as well as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and many others like them. It really saddens me to see our Nation crumble before our eyes and NO ONE is seeing it happen, because the almighty dallor has blinded us.

Goodpasture, thank you for sharing that article with us.

These are all tribal lands. But remember, ALL of eastern Oklahoma and most of western Oklahoma are tribal lands. The Quapaw, Miami, Delaware, Ottawa and others live in this area. The majority of residents in Picher and Cardin are miners or decendents of miners who are not NA.

[EarthBound?]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

These are all tribal lands. But remember, ALL of eastern Oklahoma and most of western Oklahoma are tribal lands. The Quapaw, Miami, Delaware, Ottawa and others live in this area. The majority of residents in Picher and Cardin are miners or decendents of miners who are not NA.

Thanks for the information Goodpasture.

[colleeng47]

It's time we all cried for our environment.

[_redbird_]

Let's not forget our friends, the real okies.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/endanger2.htm