Book Description

A small tribe of Indians, the Quapaws, survived civilization. A group of criminals, the likes of Bonnie and Clyde, found refuge. The wealth that poured from the ground created some of the richest Indians in the World. And Mickey Mantle got his start as a lead and zinc miner. All these events, and more, took place in or around a small community known as Picher, Oklahoma. And from the early part of the twentieth century, that community was nearly hidden under millions of tons of chat waste piles. Join author Larry Johnson on an exciting adventure starting with the origin of the Native American tribes, leading up to the horrific environmental hazards and final destruction of this town in the May 2008 tornadoes. Tar Creek effectively spins the true tale of the Quapaw Indians, the world's greatest discovery of lead and zinc, and the making of the oldest and largest environmental Superfund site in America. Organically encompassed in this tale are the first footsteps of the American Indian in the Western Hemisphere, the founding of the United States, and the transition of Indian Territories into statehood. Tar Creek is an hourglass with the discovery of lead and zinc at Picher as the skinny neck through which all of the interconnected acts and events preceding the discovery are slowly moving, resulting in the repercussions ninety years later. You'll be engaged and awed as you learn the real story on the journey to Tar Creek.