Central Mill


www.waterkeeper.org	Eagle-Picher Central Mill
Why Join? Calendar Site Map * * * * * * * * * * * Making a Difference at the Tar Creek Superfund Site: Community Efforts to Reduce Risk is a book that we hope will inspire other communities facing environmental injustices. It comes with a DVD featuring a new film Progress at Tar Creek and two films of youth efforts through service learning. The first printing was made possible through a grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences. Thank you for sharing our vision to make a difference. There is still more to be done. LEAD Agency will accept donations to reproduce additonal copies and to allow for postage. LEAD Agency, Inc. 19257 South 4403 Drive Vinita, OK 74301 * * * * * * * * * * * * * Shall We Gather at the River Filmmakers website * * * * * * * * * * * * The Creek Runs Red Filmmakers website * * * * * * * * * * * * Going Blue Author's website	Eagle-Picher Central Mill by Nick A. Calcagno		ATSDR Awarded to L.E.A.D., Inc. Central Mill History Harvard Children's Environmental Health & Disease Prevention Research Children's Environmental Health & Disease Research Environmental Blogs New! Introduction to Tar Creek Superfund Site Is Your Child's Playground Safe? Grand Riverkeeper LEAD's Environmental Justice Grant Facts Glossary Quotes OK Sustainability Network Western Mining Action Network Read about the new documentary film, "Tar Creek," by Vinita native Matt Myers that premiered 8-13-09. The film was featured during the annual Tar Creek Conference and was shown 9-23-09 at the Coleman Theatre Beautiful in Miami.
	Located between Commerce and Cardin, Oklahoma, the Eagle-Picher Central Mill was active from 1932 to 1970. The Mill stood in the middle of the largest concentration of lead and zinc in the world and handled over 66 million tons of ore during its lifetime. This print provides us a story of this era of our history.\r\n\r\nSmall mine operators called gougers throughout the TriStates of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma shipped their ores to the Central Mill for processing into usable chat. A fleet of semi-trailer trucks was used to pick up the ore from these old, low investment mines. Once at the Mill, five steam engines were used to pull 80-ton cars loaded with ore. The engine in the print, #810, was believed to have been built in 1914 for Russia, but was never delivered overseas. The engines were built by Frisco and used many years before being sold to Eagle-Picher. Today, Engine #1625 is on display in Dallas at the Texas State Fairgrounds; others are exhibited in St. Louis, Chicago, Mission, KS and Altus, OK. The train cars automatically dumped their ore load into underground hoppers. Each of the five hoppers held a train load of ore. Ore was processed into various sizs of chat, according to usage requirements, at the screening plant. The chat, or tailings, had to be washed before being shipped by truck or hopper-bottom railroad cars. Conveyor belts loaded the washed chat into the truck or railroad car. Baled hay was placed in the bottom of the hopper cars to prevent leakage. The Central Mill buildings and equipment were sold at auction in September, 1973. The mines had "played out" and no longer supported the Mill. The Mill has been torn down, but the coarse, 3/4 inch chat from the Eagle-Picher Central Mill is found throughout our country as railroad track ballast.
	Dr. Nick A. Calcagno	About the Artist Nick A. Calcagno, Ph.D., retired as Chairman of the Art Department at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, Miami, OK. He received his BA from St. Bonaventure University, Olean, New York, and MA from Seton Hall University, Orange, New Jersey. He received his training in the arts at Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles and finished his Ph.D. at Western Colorado University. Calcagno received many awards and professional achievements during his lifetime including grants from Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities for the following programs--New Deal Murals in Oklahoma, The Artist Who Never Left Home (C.B. Wilson), and Search for the Purebloods (Wilson). In addition to publishing his book New Deal Murals in Oklahoma, he developed programs on Thomas Hart Benton and Regionalism and also authored a chapter on the Oklahoma Art Center in Art in Action. This limited production color print, Eagle-Picher Central Mill, is 12 h X 18 w, and is numbered and signed by the artist. It is available for purchase through LEAD, Inc. For information about purchasing the print send an email. With his passing, Dr. Calcagno has left a legacy for artists and historians.

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