Picher, Oklahoma

Urban exploration in Oklahoma
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BROUSER
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Picher, Oklahoma

Post by BROUSER »

saw a blurb in the news-misleader about Picher, OK and the collapses. Looked it up and came up with this site.
http://www.cloudstorm.com/ghost5.html
Picher is basically Joplin/Baxter Springs area.
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White Rabbit
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by White Rabbit »

Anybody know if any of those mines are still accessible?
ARLT1YJ
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Re: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by ARLT1YJ »

WR - from the article I just read, the mines flooded with ground water once mining ceased.

http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2006SC/finalp ... _99781.htm

I took a motorcycle ride through that area last summer and was amazed be the amount of material that was around. There's literally thousands of acres of ground up rock that's piled up at least 30 to 40 feet high.

The city is part of a United States "Superfund" in which the govt. buys everyone's property and encourages everyone to leave the city. Those piles of rock are very harmful to the residents, due to the high concentrations of lead particles. There are signs all over town that basically tell people to "wash your hands before you eat".

The EPA is taking a bunch of samples this week to test how much lead is in the air. (Kinda scary, considering I leave in the county to the west!)

It'd be an awesome place to explore, once the tornado clean-up is finished... maybe sometime towards the end of summer, some of us could meet over there for an afternoon. It's as close to a modern "ghost-town" as you'll find, the town's population has shrunk from 20,000 down to around 800 since the late 70's. (It's estimated that the remaining people will finally leave after the F-4 tornado this weekend)
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atron
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by atron »

My HS back in OK used to actually have field trips to the "chat piles" and kids would sled down them with plastic saucers and such, they did this up until the early 90s.
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Re: RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by ARLT1YJ »

atron wrote:My HS back in OK used to actually have field trips to the "chat piles" and kids would sled down them with plastic saucers and such, they did this up until the early 90s.
Got any Intel on abandoned mines or sinkholes from the mining operations that are shut down? PM me if you don't want everyone in the know.

Thanks.
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Re: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by cousin »

The federal goverment owns most of the property around there now. After the tornado went though, they have atleast 14 patrolman on duty all the time. There are a few explorable areas, but not anytime soon.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/cont ... index.aspx
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Re: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by ARLT1YJ »

Amazing Slide show, thanks for sharing. I'm going to go over there in August and spend the day looking around.
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by simone »

Hey. Doses anyone remember the "Spook Light"? A bunch of us use to load-up in vans and cruise from Tulsa to Picher to "wait and see" the light. I saw it once and never went back. I have alot of newspaper info on it somewhere in my vast paper vault. If anyones interested I will dig it out, literally :D have a blessed day, simone
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MONKEYMANN
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by MONKEYMANN »

Ok...the "Spook light" wasn't in Picher, Ok....it was in Hornet Missouri...about half way between Joplin and Seneca off of Hwy 43.
What spook light are you refering to?????
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Scout
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by Scout »

Picher is so close to Hornet that it's kinda interchangable. Joplin, Seneca, Hornet, Picher, Quapaw and some other little burgs all claim the Spooklight.

Picher used to be a lot more wide-open than it is now. There are a LOT of mines in the area. I'm sure some are still accessible. Pretty dangerous to even attempt it though. I'd warn against it. There's a reason Picher is a Superfund site. One up practically in Webb City too. Drive around and look but don't enter.
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by Rugger »

was there 2 years ago in Oct. Tones of great places to photograph. A lot of machinery in various state of rust. The whole area including Mo. Carthage/ web city was a serious mining region during the 40s. towns grew and died just as quick when they shut them down. Many mine shafts are accessible. Most are in isolated areas so no probs with watching eyes. , but very dangerous. Many are flooded. Use extreme caution. My advise is do not enter these. Relatives of mine in carthage tell me about collapsing mines all the time when I visit them. The ones I came across on dogwood rd outside carthage were open, and dangerous looking with rusty equipment, loose shorings etc...
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TooMuchCoffee
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by TooMuchCoffee »

Is this the same area that's called the "Tar Creek Superfund"? What I read said this includes a large area. The government is buying property due to collapsing mines and lead chat piles everywhere.
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

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Scout
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Re: RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by Scout »

TooMuchCoffee wrote:Is this the same area that's called the "Tar Creek Superfund"? What I read said this includes a large area. The government is buying property due to collapsing mines and lead chat piles everywhere.
Probably. Tar Creek is in the area. When we used to go through there on the way to east Texas, when I was a kid, kids used to play all over those chat piles. lol No wonder there are two major hospitals in Joplin, a town of only 40,000 souls.
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RE: Picher, Oklahoma

Post by Fiend »

Me and some people will be taking a UE road trip to the Picher/Tar Creek area on sept 12th, which is a Saturday. If anyone is interested in a meet-up, let me know. The area is supposed to be completely deserted by now...
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