Picher, Oklahoma
Encyclopedia
Picher is a ghost town
and former city in Ottawa County
, Oklahoma
, United States
. Formerly a major national center of lead
and zinc
mining at the heart of the Tri-State Mining District
, over a century 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. The discovery of the cave-in risks, groundwater contamination and health effects associated with the chat piles and subsurface shafts—particularly an alarming 1996 study which showed lead poisoning
in 34% of the children in Picher—eventually prompted a mandatory evacuation
and buyout (via eminent domain
) of the entire township by the Environmental Protection Agency and the incorporation of the town (along with the similarly contaminated satellite towns of Treece
and Cardin
) into the Tar Creek Superfund site
.
A 2006 Army Corps of Engineers study which showed 86% of Picher's buildings (including the town school) were badly undermined and subject to collapse at any time as well as a F4
tornado which destroyed or damaged 150 homes in May 2008 accelerated the exodus. The town ceased official operations on September 1, 2009 and the population plummeted from 1,640 at the 2000 census to just 20 at the 2010 census. As of January 2011, only six homes and one business remain, their owners having refused to leave at any price; the rest of the town's buildings (excepting designated historical structures
) are scheduled to be demolished by the end of the year.
Picher is one of only a few locations in the world (along with others such as Gilman, Colorado
and Wittenoom, Western Australia
) to be evacuated and declared uninhabitable due to environmental and health damage caused by the mines the town once serviced.
expanded, lead and zinc ore was discovered on Harry Crawfish's claim and mining began. A townsite developed overnight around the new workings and was named Picher in honor of O. S. Picher, owner of Picher Lead Company. Incorporated in 1918, by 1920 Picher had a population of 9,726. Peak population occurred at 14,252 in 1926 followed by a gradual decline paralleling a decrease in mining activity, to 2,553 by 1960.
The Picher area became the most productive lead-zinc mining field in the Tri-State district producing over $20 billion worth of ore between 1917 and 1947. More than fifty percent of the lead and zinc metal used during World War I were produced by the Picher district. At its peak over 14,000 miners worked the mines and another 4,000 worked in mining services. Many of these workers commuted by an extensive trolley system from as far away as Joplin
and Carthage, Missouri
. Mining ceased in 1967 and water pumping from the mines ceased. The contaminated water from some 14,000 abandoned mine shafts, 70 million tons of mine tailings, and 36 million tons of mill sand and sludge remained as a huge environmental cleanup problem. The area became part of the Tar Creek Superfund site
.
On April 24, 2006, Reuters reported that Picher had been scheduled to be closed and all residents removed. Due in large part to the removal of large amounts of subsurface material during mining operations, many of the city's structures have been deemed in imminent danger of caving in.
The city's pharmacist, Gary Linderman was featured in the May 28, 2007, issue of People magazine in the Heroes Among Us article "Prescription for Kindness". He vowed to stay as long as there was anyone left who needed him and to be the last one out of the city.
. There were eight confirmed deaths, possibly including one child, and many other injuries. The tornado first touched down near the Kansas
-Oklahoma border in Oklahoma southwest of Chetopa, Kansas
, and tracked eastward. It then slammed into Picher with devastating results. Twenty blocks of the city suffered extensive damage with houses and businesses destroyed or flattened. The damage in Picher was rated at "EF4
". At least 150 others were injured in Picher alone. The tornado continued eastward, passing just north of Quapaw
and Peoria
before crossing Interstate 44
into Missouri
. This was the deadliest tornado in Oklahoma since the South Oklahoma City F5 tornado on May 3, 1999, which killed 36. The federal government also decided that there would be no aid given to rebuild homes, but the buyouts would continue as previously scheduled and people will be assisted in relocation.
Oklahoma Governor
Brad Henry
sent National Guard troops as well as emergency personnel to assist the hardest hit area in Picher; twenty blocks which suffered major damage including several destroyed structures. Damage was reported in Peoria and Quapaw.
Loss of power from the tornado forced the city to go on a boiled water notice. Staff from the Oklahoma Rural Water Association arrived to assist, since the utility's testing equipment was destroyed by the storm. With an emergency generator to supply power, rural water staff had the system running normally only two days after the tornado struck.
The city's post office was scheduled to close in July 2009 and the city ceased operations as a municipality on September 1, 2009.
By June 29, 2009, all of the residents had been given federal checks to enable them to relocate from Picher permanently. The city is considered to be too toxic to be habitable. On the last day, all the final residents met at the school auditorium to say goodbye. As of November 2010, it was reported that Picher still had "one business and six occupied houses."
The people of the adjacent city of Treece, Kansas
, would like to see the government carry out a similar relocation program in their city, too. On October 29, 2009, Congress voted to allow the EPA to fund the relocation of the remaining citizens of Treece.
Starting in January 2011, almost all remaining commercial structures will be demolished, with the single exception of the Old Miner's Pharmacy, whose owner, Gary Linderman, refuses to abandon it.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city had a total area of 2.2 square miles (5.7 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 1,640 people, 621 households, and 417 families residing in the city. The population density
was 734.0 people per square mile (283.9/km²). There were 708 housing units at an average density of 316.9 per square mile (122.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 77.13% White, 13.78% Native American, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 0.12% Asian, 0.06% from other races
, and 8.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.40% of the population.
There were 621 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.6% were married couples
living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.20.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $19,722, and the median income for a family was $25,950. Males had a median income of $22,321 versus $15,947 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $10,938. About 21.1% of families and 25.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.4% of those under age 18 and 30.9% of those age 65 or over.
Independent Lens
film The Creek Runs Red discussing the connection of the people and their desire to leave or stay in the city.
Picher was also featured in the Jump the Fence Productions film titled Tar Creek
. The film, which was written, directed, and narrated by Matt Myers, features music from Blues legend Watermelon Slim
.
Picher was featured in an episode of Life After People: The Series on the History Channel.
The aforementioned tornado was also featured on an episode of the Weather Channel's Storm Stories
.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
and former city in Ottawa County
Ottawa County, Oklahoma
Ottawa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 33,194. Its county seat is Miami. It was named for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma.Ottawa County was established in 1907.-Geography:...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Formerly a major national center of lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
and zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
mining at the heart of the Tri-State Mining District
Tri-State district
The Tri-State district was an historic lead-zinc mining district located in southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma. The district produced lead and zinc for over 100 years. Production began in the 1850s and 60s in the Joplin - Granby area of Jasper and Newton counties of...
, over a century of unrestricted subsurface excavation dangerously undermined most of Picher's town buildings and left giant piles of toxic metal
Toxic metal
Toxic metals are metals that form poisonous soluble compounds and have no biological role, i.e. are not essential minerals, or are in the wrong form. Often heavy metals are thought as synonymous, but lighter metals also have toxicity, such as beryllium, and not all heavy metals are particularly...
-contaminated mine tailings (known as chat
Chat (mining)
Chat is a term for fragments of siliceous rock, limestone, and dolomite waste rejected in the lead-zinc milling operations that accompanied lead-zinc mining in the first half of the 20th century...
) heaped throughout the area. The discovery of the cave-in risks, groundwater contamination and health effects associated with the chat piles and subsurface shafts—particularly an alarming 1996 study which showed lead poisoning
Lead poisoning
Lead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems...
in 34% of the children in Picher—eventually prompted a mandatory evacuation
Emergency evacuation
Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
and buyout (via eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
) of the entire township by the Environmental Protection Agency and the incorporation of the town (along with the similarly contaminated satellite towns of Treece
Treece, Kansas
Treece is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 138.-History:Treece and neighboring Picher were formed as a result of mining operations in the early 20th century. Treece was a heavy supplier of lead, zinc, and iron ore...
and Cardin
Cardin, Oklahoma
Cardin is a ghost town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 150 at the 2000 census, but plummeted to 3 at the 2010 census in April 2010...
) into the Tar Creek Superfund site
Tar Creek Superfund site
Tar Creek Superfund site is a United States Superfund site located in Picher and Cardin, Oklahoma. Chat piles left behind by the mining companies contain lead dust that has blown around the city. Elevated lead levels in Picher children have led to learning disabilities and other problems...
.
A 2006 Army Corps of Engineers study which showed 86% of Picher's buildings (including the town school) were badly undermined and subject to collapse at any time as well as a F4
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
tornado which destroyed or damaged 150 homes in May 2008 accelerated the exodus. The town ceased official operations on September 1, 2009 and the population plummeted from 1,640 at the 2000 census to just 20 at the 2010 census. As of January 2011, only six homes and one business remain, their owners having refused to leave at any price; the rest of the town's buildings (excepting designated historical structures
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
) are scheduled to be demolished by the end of the year.
Picher is one of only a few locations in the world (along with others such as Gilman, Colorado
Gilman, Colorado
Gilman is an abandoned mining town in southeastern Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The U.S. Post Office at Minturn now serves Gilman postal addresses....
and Wittenoom, Western Australia
Wittenoom, Western Australia
Wittenoom is a ghost town located 1,106 kilometres north-northeast of Perth in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is the site of Australia's greatest industrial disaster....
) to be evacuated and declared uninhabitable due to environmental and health damage caused by the mines the town once serviced.
History
In 1913, as the Tri-State districtTri-State district
The Tri-State district was an historic lead-zinc mining district located in southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma. The district produced lead and zinc for over 100 years. Production began in the 1850s and 60s in the Joplin - Granby area of Jasper and Newton counties of...
expanded, lead and zinc ore was discovered on Harry Crawfish's claim and mining began. A townsite developed overnight around the new workings and was named Picher in honor of O. S. Picher, owner of Picher Lead Company. Incorporated in 1918, by 1920 Picher had a population of 9,726. Peak population occurred at 14,252 in 1926 followed by a gradual decline paralleling a decrease in mining activity, to 2,553 by 1960.
The Picher area became the most productive lead-zinc mining field in the Tri-State district producing over $20 billion worth of ore between 1917 and 1947. More than fifty percent of the lead and zinc metal used during World War I were produced by the Picher district. At its peak over 14,000 miners worked the mines and another 4,000 worked in mining services. Many of these workers commuted by an extensive trolley system from as far away as Joplin
Joplin, Missouri
Joplin is a city in southern Jasper County and northern Newton County in the southwestern corner of the US state of Missouri. Joplin is the largest city in Jasper County, though it is not the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 50,150...
and Carthage, Missouri
Carthage, Missouri
Carthage is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 14,378 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Jasper County and is nicknamed "America's Maple Leaf City."...
. Mining ceased in 1967 and water pumping from the mines ceased. The contaminated water from some 14,000 abandoned mine shafts, 70 million tons of mine tailings, and 36 million tons of mill sand and sludge remained as a huge environmental cleanup problem. The area became part of the Tar Creek Superfund site
Tar Creek Superfund site
Tar Creek Superfund site is a United States Superfund site located in Picher and Cardin, Oklahoma. Chat piles left behind by the mining companies contain lead dust that has blown around the city. Elevated lead levels in Picher children have led to learning disabilities and other problems...
.
On April 24, 2006, Reuters reported that Picher had been scheduled to be closed and all residents removed. Due in large part to the removal of large amounts of subsurface material during mining operations, many of the city's structures have been deemed in imminent danger of caving in.
The city's pharmacist, Gary Linderman was featured in the May 28, 2007, issue of People magazine in the Heroes Among Us article "Prescription for Kindness". He vowed to stay as long as there was anyone left who needed him and to be the last one out of the city.
Tornado
On May 10, 2008, Picher was struck by an F4 tornadoTornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
. There were eight confirmed deaths, possibly including one child, and many other injuries. The tornado first touched down near the Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
-Oklahoma border in Oklahoma southwest of Chetopa, Kansas
Chetopa, Kansas
Chetopa is a city in Labette County, Kansas, United States. The population was 1,281 at the 2000 census. Chetopa was named for Chief Chetopa, an Osage Indian chief.-Geography:Chetopa is located at...
, and tracked eastward. It then slammed into Picher with devastating results. Twenty blocks of the city suffered extensive damage with houses and businesses destroyed or flattened. The damage in Picher was rated at "EF4
Enhanced Fujita Scale
The Enhanced Fujita Scale rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States based on the damage they cause.Implemented in place of the Fujita scale introduced in 1971 by Ted Fujita, it began operational use on February 1, 2007. The scale has the same basic design as the original Fujita scale:...
". At least 150 others were injured in Picher alone. The tornado continued eastward, passing just north of Quapaw
Quapaw, Oklahoma
Quapaw is a town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 984 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.-History:...
and Peoria
Peoria, Oklahoma
Peoria is a town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 141 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Peoria is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
before crossing Interstate 44
Interstate 44
Interstate 44 is a major highway in the central United States. Its western terminus is in Wichita Falls, Texas at a concurrency with US 277, US 281 and US 287; its eastern terminus is at the Illinois state line on the Poplar Street Bridge over the Mississippi River in St...
into Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. This was the deadliest tornado in Oklahoma since the South Oklahoma City F5 tornado on May 3, 1999, which killed 36. The federal government also decided that there would be no aid given to rebuild homes, but the buyouts would continue as previously scheduled and people will be assisted in relocation.
Oklahoma Governor
Governor of Oklahoma
The governor of the state of Oklahoma is the head of state for the state of Oklahoma, United States. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma...
Brad Henry
Brad Henry
Charles Bradford "Brad" Henry was the 26th Governor of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected governor in 2002...
sent National Guard troops as well as emergency personnel to assist the hardest hit area in Picher; twenty blocks which suffered major damage including several destroyed structures. Damage was reported in Peoria and Quapaw.
Loss of power from the tornado forced the city to go on a boiled water notice. Staff from the Oklahoma Rural Water Association arrived to assist, since the utility's testing equipment was destroyed by the storm. With an emergency generator to supply power, rural water staff had the system running normally only two days after the tornado struck.
Closure
In April 2009, residents voted 55–6 to dissolve the Picher-Cardin school district; it graduated its final class of 11 in May. By 2009 the district's enrollment had dropped to a total of 49 students from approximately 340 three years prior. Remaining students will attend Commerce and Quapaw school districts.The city's post office was scheduled to close in July 2009 and the city ceased operations as a municipality on September 1, 2009.
By June 29, 2009, all of the residents had been given federal checks to enable them to relocate from Picher permanently. The city is considered to be too toxic to be habitable. On the last day, all the final residents met at the school auditorium to say goodbye. As of November 2010, it was reported that Picher still had "one business and six occupied houses."
The people of the adjacent city of Treece, Kansas
Treece, Kansas
Treece is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 138.-History:Treece and neighboring Picher were formed as a result of mining operations in the early 20th century. Treece was a heavy supplier of lead, zinc, and iron ore...
, would like to see the government carry out a similar relocation program in their city, too. On October 29, 2009, Congress voted to allow the EPA to fund the relocation of the remaining citizens of Treece.
Starting in January 2011, almost all remaining commercial structures will be demolished, with the single exception of the Old Miner's Pharmacy, whose owner, Gary Linderman, refuses to abandon it.
Geography
Picher is located at 36°58′58"N 94°49′58"W (36.982824, -94.832777).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city had a total area of 2.2 square miles (5.7 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 1,640 people, 621 households, and 417 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 734.0 people per square mile (283.9/km²). There were 708 housing units at an average density of 316.9 per square mile (122.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 77.13% White, 13.78% Native American, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 0.12% Asian, 0.06% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 8.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.40% of the population.
There were 621 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.6% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.20.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $19,722, and the median income for a family was $25,950. Males had a median income of $22,321 versus $15,947 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $10,938. About 21.1% of families and 25.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.4% of those under age 18 and 30.9% of those age 65 or over.
Documentary film
Picher was featured in the PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
Independent Lens
Independent Lens
Airing weekly on PBS through ITVS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama and documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie...
film The Creek Runs Red discussing the connection of the people and their desire to leave or stay in the city.
Picher was also featured in the Jump the Fence Productions film titled Tar Creek
Tar Creek
Tar Creek is a feature-length environmental documentary about the Tar Creek Superfund Site, which at one time was considered the worst environmental disaster in the United States. The land within the perimeters of this environmental disaster was bad enough that the federal government bought out the...
. The film, which was written, directed, and narrated by Matt Myers, features music from Blues legend Watermelon Slim
Watermelon Slim
Bill Homans, professionally known as "Watermelon Slim", is an American blues musician. He plays both guitar and harmonica. He is currently signed to NorthernBlues Music, based in Toronto, Ontario.-Biography:...
.
Picher was featured in an episode of Life After People: The Series on the History Channel.
The aforementioned tornado was also featured on an episode of the Weather Channel's Storm Stories
Storm Stories
Storm Stories is a non-fiction television series aired on The Weather Channel and Zone Reality hosted and narrated by meteorologist and Storm-Tracker Jim Cantore. Storm Stories showcases various types of severe weather, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards. Each episode features a famous...
.
See also
- AsarcoASARCOASARCO LLC is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona that mines and processes primarily copper. The company, a subsidiary of Grupo México, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
, operated in Picher as "Federal Mining and Smelting Company" - Treece, KansasTreece, KansasTreece is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 138.-History:Treece and neighboring Picher were formed as a result of mining operations in the early 20th century. Treece was a heavy supplier of lead, zinc, and iron ore...
Further reading
- Robertson, David, Hard as the Rock Itself: Place and Identity in the American Mining Town, ISBN 978-0-87081-850-9 (hardcover:alk.paper) ISBN 0-87081-850-3 HD 95483t65r632006 307376'60973-dc22, The University Press of Colorado 55890 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206c, Boulder, Colorado 80303
- http://www.upcolorado.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=978-0-87081-850-9
- Tar Creek documentary website