thumb|View of Cardin mines, plant, and railyard in 1922

thumb|Fine [[Galena specimen from the old Kenora mine, Cardin]]

Cardin is a ghost town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 150 at the 2000 census, but declined all the way to a population of 3 at the 2010 census in April 2010. By November 2010, the population of the town was listed as zero.

A former center of zinc and lead mining in northeastern Oklahoma, the town is located within the Tar Creek Superfund site designated in 1983 because of extensive environmental contamination. The vast majority of its residents accepted federal buyout offers of their properties, and the town's population officially had declined to zero in November 2010.

History

Early history

When it was founded as a mining town in 1913, this was first known as Tar Creek, after a stream in the area. In 1918, William Oscar Cardin (Quapaw), and his wife, Isa (Wade) Cardin, had his 40-acre allotment platted and recorded with the county clerk. The town name was changed from Tar Creek to Cardin in 1920. There were 2,640 residents in 1920, many of them mineworkers.

This was part of the Tri-State district of southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma, which produced more than 43% of the lead and zinc in the United States in the early 20th century.

Buyout and shutdown

The town, along with Picher, and Hockerville, Oklahoma, is located within the Tar Creek Superfund site. This was designated in 1983 under laws intended to allocate federal funding to clean up former mining sites of extensive pollution.

These towns are part of a $60 million federal buyout because of lead pollution, as well as the risk of buildings caving in due to decades of underground mining. Cardin, Oklahoma, officially closed its last business, the post office, on February 28, 2009. In April 2009, federal officials stated that only seven residences were occupied in Cardin and that the town's water service would soon be shut off. Cardin was the first city within the Superfund area to be completely closed down. In November 2010, the last family in Cardin received its final buyout payment from the federally funded Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust. They departed, reducing the town's population to zero. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land.

Demographics

At the 2000 census, The territory at that time became a part of Quapaw Public Schools.

Notable people

  • Merlyn Mantle, wife of baseball player Mickey Mantle, was a native of Cardin.

See also

  • Eagle Picher Mine was the principal lead-zinc producer in the Picher mining district of Oklahoma.
  • Tri-State district, was the historic lead-zinc mining district in southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma.

References

  • Cardin, Picher Field, Tri-State District at Mindat
  • Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Cardin
  • Ottawa County Map