6/13/2023 0 Comments Webber falls ok to picher okPeak population occurred in 1926 with 14,252 residents and was followed by a gradual decline due to the decrease in mining activity, leaving Picher with only 2,553 by 1960. The city was incorporated in 1918, and by 1920, Picher had a population of 9,726. A townsite developed overnight around the new workings and was named Picher in honor of O. In 1913, as the Tri-State district expanded, lead and zinc ore were discovered on Harry Crawfish's claim, and mining began. The closest towns to Picher, other than nearby Cardin, Treece, and Douthat, are Commerce, Quapaw (the headquarters of the federally recognized Native American nation by that name), and Miami, Oklahoma. Picher is among a small number of locations in the world (such as Gilman, Colorado Centralia, Pennsylvania and Wittenoom, Western Australia) to be evacuated and declared uninhabitable due to environmental and health damage caused by area mines. However, its historical archives and artifacts had already been shipped to the Dobson Museum in Miami, Oklahoma by that point. One of the last vacant buildings, which had housed the former Picher mining museum, was destroyed by arson in April 2015. Except for some historic structures, the rest of the town's buildings were scheduled to be demolished by the end of the year. As of January 2011, six homes and one business remained, their owners having refused to leave at any price. The federal government proceeded to conduct buyouts of remaining properties. The population plummeted from 1,640 at the 2000 census to 20 at the 2010 census. On September 1, 2009, the state of Oklahoma officially dis-incorporated the city of Picher, which ceased official operations on that day. The destruction in May 2008 of 150 homes by an EF4 tornado accelerated the exodus of the remaining population. The similarly contaminated satellite towns of Treece, Kansas, and Cardin, Oklahoma, were included in the Tar Creek Superfund site.Ī 2006 Army Corps of Engineers study showed 86% of Picher's buildings (including the town school) were badly undermined and subject to collapse at any time. Eventually the EPA and the state of Oklahoma agreed to a mandatory evacuation and buyout of the entire township. This can result in lifelong neurological problems. The state collaborated on mitigation and remediation measures, but a 1994 screening result found that 34% of the children in Picher suffered from lead poisoning due to these environmental effects. 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. 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. 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. Picher is a ghost town and former city in Ottawa County, northeastern Oklahoma, United States. To commemorate this tragedy, the city of Webbers Falls created the “Angel of the Falls” memorial that can be seen at the park on the riverfront.The mining waste was located very near neighborhoods in the town. 14 people died as a result of the collapse. In recent history, Webbers Falls is the area where a section of the Interstate 40 bridge collapsed when a barge collided with one of the piers. General Watie stationed his troops in Webbers Falls. It was also home to the last Confederate general to surrender, General Stand Watie. Joseph “Rich Joe” Vann owned a cotton plantation and a steam boat. Webbers Falls was home to a few prominent Cherokees. After the Indian Removal Act, many Cherokees found their way to, and settled down in Webbers Falls. Webber established a trading post, portage service and salt works in 1828, years before the Trail of Tears. Webbers Falls is Oklahoma’s second oldest town, and is named after its founder Chief Walter Webber and the Arkansas River waterfall. The town has survived the Civil War, fires, and floods. Webbers Falls is a small town, rich in Cherokee History, that sits on the banks of the Arkansas River in Eastern Oklahoma. The Town of Webbers Falls, OK was founded in 1828 by Chief Walter Webber.
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