Lawrence Journal-World / Mining's Legacy: About this series

Minings Legacy

A Scar on Kansas

In the early years of the last century, Cherokee and Crawford counties in southeast Kansas swelled with workers-immigrants from Eastern Europe who found in midwest mining jobs a backbreaking way to make a living in the New World.

Then the industries left.

Decades later, southeast Kansas is still dealing with the ramifications of the mining industry's heyday and withdrawal-and the costs of dwindling population, lagging economic standards and a scarred, unhealthy environment.

A three-day series started in the print edition on March 20, 2007; the River City Weekly documentary aired in two episodes, premiering March 21 and 28 — with the full video available at LJWorld.com.

The entire series, with additional multimedia story elements, appeared on LJWorld.com starting March 20, 2007.