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All the United States Oklahoma Picher Picher
AO Edited

Picher

This former mining town was named the most toxic town in America.

Picher, Oklahoma

Added By
Allison Meier
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  notoriousFIG / Atlas Obscura User
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  Bethany Herron
  Bethany Herron
Main Street   Calebowens1 / Atlas Obscura User
  shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
Ruins from an old mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Mineral buildup on a rock   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Collapsed mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
7-1-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
7-1-22 Abandoned House   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Abandoned miners house   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Trailer House 6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Inside an old trailer house 6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Looking out the consession stand towards the field 6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Old cups left behind 6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Abandoned Baseball Field 6-30-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
  peggydavis66/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
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  Bethany Herron
These nasty swampy puddles are everywhere, careful if you go on foot!   TonboMedia / Atlas Obscura User
Expect to run into these EVERYWHERE   TonboMedia / Atlas Obscura User
Someone is keeping the grass mowed.   TonboMedia / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Some nasty water feeding into Tar Creek   shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
Lytle Creek(left) feeding into Tark Creek(right)   shaw95 / Atlas Obscura User
Old baseball field   notoriousFIG / Atlas Obscura User
  KellyK/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
  KellyK/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Picher Auction house   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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  Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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  Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
  Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Mine full of water   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
One of many cave Ins   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Picher mining museum ruins   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
P.D.F Picher Fire Department   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
During winter   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Mining ruins   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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11-20-20   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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11-20-20   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
3-12-20   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
3-12-20   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
3-12-20   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Small sink hole   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of a mine   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
One of the few remaining large chat piles   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Abandoned house   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Looking out the abandoned house   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
One of the many roads to nothing   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Old baseball field   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
House foundation   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Water tower behind another aband   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Old mine entrance   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
4-4-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-19-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-13-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-13-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-13-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
9-13-22   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
Old Housing Complex   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The town of Picher, Oklahoma was once a booming mining community and home to thousands of people. Today, mountains of contaminated mining waste pocked with sinkholes loom over a nearly empty town. The Tar Creek that runs through the area is burned red by acidic water seeping from the underground mining tunnels. Once a town with a population of 20,000 and the world's richest lead and zinc mining field, fewer than 25 people remain in what was called the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called the most toxic place in the United States.

The Tar Creek area covers 40-square-miles of Kansas, Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma, extending into Quapaw tribal lands, with the town of Picher at its center. It was designated an EPA Superfund site in 1983, and after a high population of the children in Picher were found to have toxic levels of lead in their blood in 2005, the state started offering buyouts for residents to relocate. In 2006, the federal government began buying out homes and businesses. In 2009, the EPA declared the town uninhabitable. The residents of Picher were left to choose between their health and their homes while deteriorating mines threatened to swallow the streets. In less than a decade, the population dropped from 1,640 to less than 20.

Although most of the residents left, a few lingered amid the vacant buildings and desolate roads, where trucks hauling away polluted waste are the only traffic. With no electric, city, or police services, the town is dark and unattended, frequently vandalized, and subject to theft.

Founded in 1918, Picher hit hard times after the mining companies pulled out, and the population had already sunk to around 1,700 when the buyouts began. During World Wars I and II, Picher's mines were busy with lead-ore extraction for producing bullets. Saloons with names like the Bloody Knuckle characterized the rough, but bustling, community.

Unfortunately, the town faced even more misery in May 2008, when an EF-4 tornado plowed through the area, killing six, injuring 150, and destroying 100 homes. In May 2009, the high school had its last graduation and in September 2009, city offices closed. By March 2010, the only business remaining open in the shadow of the chat piles was the Ole Miners Pharmacy. Eventually, the whole town will be bulldozed to the ground, the soil hauled away, the poisonous mountains of waste removed, leaving nothing but scarred land.

The slow process of demolishing Picher began in January 2011, although six families had still refused to move. On June 9, 2015, Picher’s last official resident, a pharmacist named Gary Linderman, died at age 60. The Best day to explore is Sunday there should be no dump trucks moving through the area then.

Related Tags

Intriguing Environs Ghost Towns Disaster Areas Abandoned Mines Superfund Site Ecosystems

Know Before You Go

Picher is still publicly accessible, though many of the areas are fenced off. Large piles of contaminated chat are scattered throughout town and the wind can carry hazardous material.

Community Contributors

Added By

Allison

Edited By

bethanyherron, cait7911, Darrell Powers, shaw95...

  • bethanyherron
  • cait7911
  • Darrell Powers
  • shaw95
  • notoriousFIG
  • TonboMedia
  • Calebowens1
  • 8unnylozano
  • Marty the tramp

Published

July 15, 2011

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Sources
  • http://newsok.com/news/tarcreek
  • http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/creekrunsred/film.html
  • "Demolition of Oklahoma Town Begins," Tulsa World: http://www.tulsaworld.com/20110124_12_0_PICHER35376
  • http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/last-residents-picher-oklahoma-wont-give-ghost-town-n89611
  • https://www.wideopencountry.com/picher-oklahoma/
  • https://www.wired.com/2010/08/ff_madmaxtown/
  • https://timeline.com/picher-oklahoma-lead-toxic-186e5595232b
  • https://quirkytravelguy.com/visiting-picher-oklahoma-ghost-town-toxic-waste/
Picher
Picher, Oklahoma, 74360
United States
36.987012, -94.830784

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