Tar Creek [Paperback]

Larry G. Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2009

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 worlds 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. Youll be engaged and awed as you learn the real story on the journey to Tar Creek.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Tate Publishing (March 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606965557
• ISBN-13: 978-1606965559
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #645,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent read but far too little on Tar Creek, March 6, 2010

By 

Robert C. Vincent - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tar Creek (Paperback)

The book itself is divided into three parts, part one is titled "Origins of the Quapaw" and follows the Quapaw Indians from their original home all the way to the area that would one day become Oklahoma and Tar Creek. This part covers ca. 94 pages, the book then abruptly shifts away from the Quapaw to part two titled "Lead and Zinc Mining".

This section starts out making few references to the Quapaw and finally almost none at all as it goes into the mining of the region during the boom years and beyond, ca. 116 pages. The part is titled "Mining Aftermath and the Quapaws in the Twenty-First Century."

This section goes over the aftermath to the land in a little detail and also to the Quapaw themselves who had been hardly mentioned at all for the previous hundred pages. However the strangest section is an introspective final chapter titled "Journey's End" where the author blames the loss of family structure within the Quapaw for part of their downfall then extrapolates that to the American family in general. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book in that the previous chapters were all heavily annoted with references and suddenly there is this editorial on the crumbling family, these chapters ran for about 51 pages. The final parts of the book include an addendum on "The North American Indian" and some other references and notes.

The reason for the low rating is because although it was interesting to read about the Quapaw, with a title of Tar Creek I expected a lot more on the aftermath of the site. It is fairly up to date however, even including the tornado that went through the Pitcher area in May of 2008. For anyone interested in the human side of things this book is for you, it covers the Quapaw that occupied the land prior to the mining boom, it covers the people who lived there, rugged individualistic people that mined the lead and zinc and how they lived, and it shows a little of what it was like to live in Pitcher and the Tar Creek area after the closure of the mines.

However if you wish to purchase this book to read about the devastation wrought on the environment at the time or the aftermath as it stands today such as current remediation efforts, this book will likely leave you disappointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be Required Reading for Ottawa County Students, June 4, 2009

By 

Rachel A. Fleming (Converse, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tar Creek (Paperback)

I grew up in Ottawa County and took Oklahoma History in 6th Grade. Nothing came close to the history I learned in this book about the American Indians who were moved to Oklahoma. This book should be required reading for all Ottawa County High School Students. I learned so much about what the lead and zinc mining did to the land and now fully understand the problem caused by mining this area.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good and bad aspects to this book, March 4, 2011

By 

sooner4x4 (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tar Creek (Paperback)

As mentioned by another reviewer, there are three sections to this book. The first two sections on the history of the Quapaw and life/work in the mining towns are quite interesting. The third section was somewhat opinionated with a subtle negative right wing slant against Native Americans, in a history revisionist kind of way. This was a real turnoff. Scattered throughout the book were numerous misspelled words. I have never read a published book with errors like this. The numerous spelling errors and unnecessary editorial in the third section of the book cause me to question the integrity and factual accounts discussed in the first two sections, which is a shame because I really want to believe I was reading accurate historical accounts of the Quapaw history and of the conditions in the mining towns. Both are fascinating aspects of our history.