Quapaw Nation Aims To Clean Up Polluted Oklahoma Town

Decades of unrestricted mining left piles of toxic metal, cave-in risks, contaminated groundwater and more in Picher, Oklahoma.

The northeastern part of Oklahoma is home to eight federally recognized tribal nations, including the Quapaw. It's also where one of the largest mining booms in the country took place.

That's where Picher sits — a once tight-knit community, including miners who were known as gorillas.

It was originally Quapaw land; they were forcibly removed from Arkansas to there in the early 1800s. Nearly six decades later, large deposits of zinc and lead were discovered, displacing many from their land.