The town of Picher, along with the nearby towns of Cardin and Treece in Kansas developed overnight.
At its peak, Picher mills processed nearly 5,000 tons of raw ore a day.
They crushed the ore into fine grains and melted it in giant smelter to filter away the impurities.
Only a fraction of the melted ore produced actual valuable minerals.
This fine-grained mine tailings known as chat, blew all over the town and people breathed them in.
When it rained, the runoff from the chat piles got into the local water supply.
The main street of Picher.
Some shops still have items displayed at the windows.
Based on this report, the government gave its final verdict: Picher was to be evacuated.
Rebuilding Picher was now out of question.
The only option left was to leave it behind.
Picher during its heydays.
Photo credit:Kelly/Flickr
Photo credit:Tyson Luneau/Flickr
Sources:Wikipedia/Wired
