The Tri-State district was a historic

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

mining district located in present-day southwest

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, southeast

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and northeast

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. The district produced lead and zinc for over 100 years. Production began in the 1850s and 1860s in the Joplin - Granby area of

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

and Newton counties of southwest Missouri. Production was particularly high during the World War I era and continued after World War II, but with declining activity. As jobs left the area, the communities declined in population. The

Picher, Oklahoma Picher is a ghost town and former city in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, Ottawa County, northeastern Oklahoma, United States. It was a major national center of lead and zinc mining for more than 100 years in the heart of the Tri-State district, Tri ...

mines were finally closed in 1967, and the "Swalley" mine near Baxter Springs, Kansas in 1970.Brockie, Douglas C., et al., ''The Geology and Ore Deposits of the Tri-State District of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma,'' in Ridge, John D., ''Ore Deposits of the United States, 1933-1967;'' Vol 1, Ch. 20, pp. 400 - 430, 1968, American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. Because of extensive toxic environmental wastes produced from these lead and zinc deposits, known as chat, large areas have been rendered uninhabitable and damage has been caused to air, land and water quality. In some areas, such as

, the federal government bought out the last inhabitants and the town was disincorporated in 2013. Three large sites in this district have been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as mining-related

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

sites: the Tar Creek Superfund site in northeast Oklahoma; the Jasper County and Newton County sites in southwest Missouri; and the Cherokee County site in southeast Kansas. In 2019 EPA announced a plan for continued funding of $16 million annually for cleanup at Tar Creek.

References

External links

Lead and Zinc Mining in Kansas
Kansas Geological Survey
1936 Cherokee County Map
Kansas
Ottawa County Map
Oklahoma Lead and zinc mines in the United States Ore deposits Mining in Missouri Mining in Kansas Mining in Oklahoma Mining districts in North America {{mining-stub

See also

References

External links