Simply Lou: Toxic

article and illustration by Lou Davenport

I have become addicted to a show on The Science Channel called “Mysteries of the Abandoned.” If I find it on, I cannot watch “just one.” I have found a lot of places I will NOT be going to but there is one abandoned place I have been. And, the weird thing, I wasn’t even aware how toxic it was and what danger I had placed myself in! I found that out later on down the road!

Picher, Oklahoma is known as “the most toxic town in America.” It was the center of lead and zinc mining for both World Wars. The by-product is called “chat” and looks like mountains and mountains of white ash. To me, it looked like what the moon might look like. Before the chat was found to have such high levels of lead and extremely toxic, people had picnics on the mounds and I even saw four wheeler tracks from some “nuts” riding on them. The mounds covered such a large area, they were really all you could see along the left side of the highway.

The other side of the highway was desolate and destroyed. The chat had blown into many of the homes and made big piles. I later found out that right before Picher was deemed “unfit for humans” a big F4 tornado came through and pretty much tore everything up. The school was left and a few old store fronts on the main highway. The school still looked pristine and had “Home of the Guerillas” painted on the building.

It was so weird. I very seldom use the word, “surreal,” but this place was. I didn’t see a soul and really didn’t want to. I can certainly say I have seen an “environmental disaster” now before I die. I just wanted out of there. The atmosphere was heavy and haunted-like.

In 1920, the town became incorporated with a population of 9,926, nearly all of them involved in the mining operations. Picher mine shafts produced over half the lead and zinc to make bullets in WWI and WWII. The zinc ore, being in such huge demand, was churned out, with no thought to any consequences. They just did not know and the little town boomed.

At one time there were trolleys that brought workers from surrounding towns and villages. They worked in shifts the zinc and lead was in such demand.

Residents most likely were exposed to the harmful toxins everytime they stepped out their doors. Some parents used the chat as “sand” in children’s sandboxes. Children were allowed to ride their bikes up and down the mountains of chat. They just didn’t know the danger.

By the time the mining stopped in 1970, severe damage had been done. The groundwater had been contaminated with ridiculous amounts of lead. The mining- eroded soil made sinkholes and “cave ins” an every day occurrence. In 1967, contaminated water from the mines turned the local creek red. This is when the giant chat piles were found to be laced with lead. Picher’s cancer levels skyrocketed.

The area was declared the Tar Creek Superfund site in 1981. Most residents wouldn’t leave until 2006 when it was discovered the entire town was in imminent danger of collapsing into the mines. It was declared too toxic to clean up as well. In 2008, just as the Federal buyout program began paying residents to relocate, the town was hit by an F4 tornado. Eight people died, including a child. That was the last straw and now only six people remain. They call themselves “Chat Rats.” I wonder if they are still alive.

When I was there I noticed the school was in pristine condition although I don’t understand why. There were a few cars there. The sad part was seeing a deserted football stadium. There were swing sets with no swings and a baseball field with part of a backstop left.

As I was researching some facts for this column I came across something I thought was so touching. It seems that for the past several years, many former residents get together in Picher at Christmas for a parade. The old pharmacy is open before and after the parade and is crammed full of souvenirs and keepsakes from their old hometown. Many recall how much they loved living there and I can sure understand that. Even the torn up mess I saw, I could tell it was a little town that everybody knew everyone. So sad, but, so sweet it is remembered even if it’s only one day a year!
R I P Picher Oklahoma

P.S. I did get to ride on Route 66 for awhile and pretend I was in a corvette with “Buzz and Todd!” It’s odd that you cannot just stay on Route 66 and go cross country. There’s bits of it here and then you detour and go get on it over there! It was still fun and I found out Oklahoma has some towns that if you want to sound impressive you can alway say you were in “Paris” (OK) or that you were hanging out in “Miami” (OK) and right on down the road from Miami, is a little vineyard with some of the best wine I ever had! Who knew?