Video interview
Geologist Jim McCauley
Photo slideshow
"A bad way to make a living"
Video interview
Former miner Walter Wettstein
Photo gallery
A landscape transformed
Video interview
Dave Drake, EPA project manager
Photo gallery
A tale of two cities
Video interview
Picher resident Jon Finn
Video
River City Weekly
The continuing story
After Mining's Legacy was published, state and federal officials began looking for solutions to Southeast Kansas' mining-related problems. We continue our coverage below.
Behind the story
Reporter Mike Belt and photographer Thad Allender talk about the background to this series.
- Stories by Mike Belt
- Photos by Thad Allender
- Videos by Thad Allender, Brian Powell and Greg Hurd
"A bad way to make a living"
Mining’s legacy: A scar on Kansas
Coal, lead and zinc mining in southeast Kansas left the land scarred and contaminated with pollutants. And troubles persist. Read story.
Local resident recalls working in coal mine
Walter Wettstein went to work in a Crawford CoWalter Wettstein went to work in a Crawford County coal mine when he was 12 years old. Read story.
A couple of mines still exist
Most of the coal strip mining in Kansas ended in the 1980s, but there are two operations still active. Read story.
Big Brutus’ glory days
It stood 16 stories tall. Its bucket could hold 90 cubic yards of earth. It was the second largest shovel in the world and hasn’t moved in more than 30 years. Read story.
A landscape transformed
Earth’s wounds run deep
Undermining is just one aspect of the damaging environmental effects left from years of mostly unchecked mining practices that are still evident. In 1983 the federal government placed the southeast corner of the county on a priority list for environmental cleanup. It became a Superfund site for the Environmental Protection Agency to deal with. Read story.
Polluted areas affect families’ health
Rodney and Heather Woodcocks' 40-acre property is in an area with a history steeped in lead and zinc mining, and which became heavily polluted as a result of the mining waste carried by the wind from chat piles, and polluted water seeping out of abandoned mines into streams and other bodies of water. Read story.
Former strip mines turned into public haven for wildlife
When strip mining for coal ended more than 30 years ago in southeast Kansas, thousands of acres of scarred land were abandoned. Read story.
A tale of two cities
A Kansas town looks across a border and wonders, why not us?
Residents of Treece, Kansas, were stunned when they found out a little more than a year ago that they would not be included in the Picher, Oklahoma, buyout. Read story.
Oklahoma’s plan for Picher to cost $50 million
The people of Picher, Okla., are leaving. Read story.
The legacy, in numbers
Compare Cherokee and Crawford counties to the rest of Kansas
Glossary
Panoramas
How the land was mined
See how undermining and strip mining extracted resources from the earth
The Superfund site
See a map of the area affected by mining
