How this Oklahoma Town Became Completely Uninhabitable

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Video written by Amy Muller

[tinttiboi]

Sam from Wendover, please don't send Amy into the uninhabitable city of Picher in Oklahoma

[monterraythehomeless]

As an inhabitant of Twitch, i already knew chat was garbage

[Generalth]

Hi Sam!

I really appreciate Amy dressing up as a giant gorilla and posing for pictures in an industrial wasteland. She deserves a raise!

[thatandrewnash]

PICHER! One thing not mentioned: The town of Treece, Kansas, was separated from Picher by... the establishment of Oklahoma in 1907. The state line cut it off, so it became first North Picher, then Treece. Because of the way EPA has regions, Kansas was in a different region than Oklahoma, so residents of Treece were not offered a buyout when Picher was because one region didn't know what the other was doing. The EPA later flew some high-ranking guys out (I covered this hilarious event for a local newspaper) and were convinced to offer Treece residents a buyout, too. Like Picher, Treece no longer exists.

Also, I work for USDA now, and Sam has used our/my team's products/graphs/charts for several recent videos. It's always exciting to share that other people see and share our work.

[JoeJaJoeJoe]

Most of the members of the Quapah Nation were opposed to mining in Picher from the very beginning. The mining company sued tribe members and had the courts declare them legally incompetent, forcing them into contracts to lease their land.

[iheartdiscgolf]

Amy is a great writer. Great episode Amy. You deserve a raise of at least 11%

[Neptune-kshox]

Half as Habitable: A new channel where Sam goes to places he isn't likely to survive

[patlmalon]

Used to live there as a very young child until my parents decided that raising a child next to giant piles of lead piles was a bad idea and moved.

[schmourt]

I was a freshman in high school living in Kansas while this was going on, neighboring town Treece just over the OK border was also affected, and I will never forget this being the eye opening reason I realized none of my classmates watched the news.

I was on the computer in the school library and the science teacher asked a class of seniors about this story, none of them knew about it. I was sitting there silently fuming because it technically wasn't my class. the next morning the same teacher talked to our freshman class about it and again, nobody else knew what she was talking about, but at least I got to say it this time lol.

it was truly one of those "lived experience" moments where you realize the way you grew up isn't the same as the way everyone else grew up. I'd always watched the morning news before school, since elementary, it was basically a ritual for me, and I assumed other people my age did the same thing but then this came up and I realized I was the weird one 😂

[layneburton]

Going to OU for environmental engineering, learned a lot about the passive restoration efforts to remove the metals in Tar Creek because OU had a large part in it. They started with the goal of just cleaning up the tributaries so the water could be reintroduced to the river, but even wildlife has slowly started to come back, even otters and beavers!

[bobby_greene]

7:09 "it stops being poison when it becomes road" sounds like a teaser for a Times Beach Missouri video

[Heru]

My grandma was born in Treese and raised in Picher. She left in 1950 for nursing school. My great-grandfather worked in the mines in the 1930s and 40s. He died of lung cancer in the early 60's. My grandma always told stories of how she got to go into the mines with her dad once in a while, elevators going hundreds of feet down and whatnot. Told us about playing in the chat piles after school, using pieces of scrap sheet metal to sled down the piles. Which i did once myself as a kid when we went to Picher for my great-grandmas funeral. That was in 94. Even then the town was very much going down hill, but there were still plenty of people there. It's wild how quickly it went over the cliff in the years after.

[IrohthePyr]

5:45 It's pronounced Mi-ah-mah!
-Every Oklahoman

[Nordstorm_Tech]

"I SeNt aMy to ThiS UniNhaBitAble OklAhOma TowN"

[BloodRider]

We live in an era where HOI vids are 9 minutes long

[Aid.e]

Theres a great metal band called Chat Pile. They're OKC based & of course the name comes from what you've described.

[Goabnb]

This by-product of mining a toxic metal, you think it's dangerous?

"Nah, let children play with it"

[ia]

And let me guess, the mining company never set aside any money for this and so now we are paying for it all

[BanditMatt]

3:55 "slowly gave them lead poisoning... :( " Sam from Wendover productions definitely wrote this

[scottnuzum]

I used to live in Southeast Kansas about 90 miles from Picher. I went through or visited when it was still a lively town, during its decline, and after the end. The Gorilla was the high-school's mascot. The old high school is used by the Quapaw Nation as an emergency center with fire trucks and an ambulance. The football press box was sold to Columbus High School to replace one that burned down and the bleachers of the softball field were moved to Cherokee High School when they wanted to start a softball team (both are in Kansas). One of the last graduates of the high school is the head softball coach at Fort Scott Community Colllege and guided the team to its first juco national tournament appearance. The town is gone but it has a legacy that lives on.