The Creek Runs Red
The Creek Runs Red is a documentary about the former mining town of Picher, Oklahoma, which the Environmental Protection Agency now regards as the most toxic place in America.
Located on the traditional lands of the Quapaw People, the mining town of Picher was once a hub for the world’s richest source of zinc and lead (a great deal of which went to making bullets for WW1 and WW2).
“During its boom, Picher’s population peaked at 20,000. Saloons and movie parlors lined the streets,” notes the Associated Press.
It truly was an American Dream. That is, despite the nightmarish towers of mine waste (”chat piles”) that were collecting in the distance.
Today, with a population under a thousand, Picher can no longer be called a mining town — but not because there have been no active mines for over thirty years, but rather because the nightmare usurped the …
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