Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
Jan 29, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Picher, the mining town of Oklahoma, once a habitat of 14000 residents has turned into a ghost town where only a handful of people are left and the number is only diminishing with time. The majority of the residents have left for other places and schools and businesses have shut down or shifted. The federal government has ordered demolition of the town and the work is in progress. The remaining commercial establishments in the deserted city will be pulled down shortly as it has been reported. Only the owner of the sole remaining business in the city is refusing to move. The Old Miner’s Pharmacy owner Gary Linderman says “It’s not time for me to leave yet,” adding “I have an obligation to people. We are all creatures of habit and closing might throw them off.”

Apart from selling prescription drugs his store also has beverages, snacks and essential over-the-counter medicines. He turned down a buyout offer from the Federal government after it declared the town a potentially dangerous waste site in the year 1981. Since then the government has bought out nearly 900 businesses as well as homeowners. The crews have recently demolished restaurant, a funeral home, and other buildings in the city. Along with lead contamination Picher town has also suffered extensively from old mine sinkholes which have emerged as a threat to the remaining residents. Three years back 150 houses were destroyed by a tornado and the calamity also drove some residents out.

In 2009 the post office shut down and the city government was dissolved as well. It has been decided that a auction house, church and a mining museum will be spared from demolition for historic importance.