Day Eight was different. Due to changing my trip for the bison, I wanted to stay in the Kansas area so I could easily make it to Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas later in the day. To pass the time, I spent the day driving around some vacant areas.

The most interesting spot was Picher, Oklahoma, an uninhabited, highly toxic ghost town right on the Kansas border, it is a completely abandoned town that was officially unincorporated in 2009. I will leave a link so you can go down the rabbit hole yourself if you are interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picher,_Oklahoma

In short, it was a massive zinc mining town. I have read that the area produced half the zinc used in World War I, but the mining contaminated everything. It got to the point where the government had to step in and relocate the residents between 2000-2010. On top of that, 2008 brought a EF4 tornadoes that did heavy damage to the town and another community just over the border in Kansas.

There is not much left in the way of physical buildings anymore. I put the drone up, and you can clearly see the remnants of old neighborhoods mapped out by empty streets. It was fascinating, but off in the distance, you can also see giant mounds of mining waste, which are called Chat piles. They are what led to the environmental contamination, in the water and blowing in the air. Again, read all about it. It is fascinating that this happened recently.

It is just a really sad story. This photo shows a piece of the neighborhood that still exists right under the water tower for Picher, Oklahoma.

Day Eight.

tr/trp