Decades of unrestricted subsurface excavation dangerously undermined most of Picher's town buildings and left giant piles of toxic metal-contaminated mine tailings (known as chat) heaped throughout the area.

The state collaborated on mitigation and remediation measures, but a 1994 study found that 34% of the children in Picher suffered from lead poisoning due to these environmental effects, which could result in lifelong neurological problems.

A 2006 Army Corps of Engineers study showed 86% of Picher's buildings (including the town school) were badly undermined and subject to collapse at any time.

[citation needed] Picher is among a small number of locations in the world (such as Gilman, Colorado; Centralia, Pennsylvania; and Wittenoom, Western Australia) to be evacuated and declared uninhabitable due to environmental and health damage caused by mining.

In 1913, as the Tri-State district expanded, lead and zinc were discovered on Harry Crawfish's claim, and mining began.

[7] The Picher area became the most productive lead-zinc mining field in the Tri-State district, producing over $20 billion worth of ore between 1917 and 1947.

[7] The population entered a steady decline after the peak in 1926 due to the decrease in mining activity, leaving Picher with only 2,553 by 1960.

[citation needed] Eventually, the EPA and the state of Oklahoma agreed to a mandatory evacuation and buyout of the entire township.

While some remediation took place in the following quarter century, contamination and other environmental hazards were found to be so severe that the government decided to close Picher and relocate its residents, as reported on April 24, 2006, by Reuters.

It struck Picher, causing extensive damage to 20 blocks of the city, with houses and businesses destroyed or flattened.

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry sent National Guard troops as well as emergency personnel to assist the hardest hit area in Picher.

Staff from the Oklahoma Rural Water Association arrived to assist, since the utility's testing equipment was destroyed by the storm.

With an emergency generator to supply power, rural water staff had the system running normally only two days after the tornado struck.

[11] Given the existing plan to vacate the city, the federal government decided against aid to rebuild homes, and the buyouts continued as previously scheduled, with people being assisted in relocation.

The Picher Mining Field Museum, which had been housed in the former Tri-State Zinc and Lead Ore Producers Association building, was destroyed by arson in April 2015.

Gary Linderman, owner of the Ole Miners Pharmacy, was featured in the May 28, 2007, issue of People magazine in the Heroes Among Us article: "Prescription for Kindness".

[30] Picher was featured in the PBS Independent Lens film The Creek Runs Red, which discussed the connection of the people and their desire to leave or stay in the city.

[35] Police investigating the Welch, Oklahoma murders of Danny and Kathy Freemen and the murders of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman filed charges containing statements from numerous witnesses and alleged accomplices who stated they had heard rumors that Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman were in a pit or mineshaft in Picher, or had been threatened by Warren Philip Welch, lead suspect in the crimes, who told them they would "end up in a pit in Picher like those two girls."

Their bodies have never been found, though suspected accomplice Ronnie Dean Busick was arrested in April 2018 for his involvement in the crimes.

[36][37] Busick pleaded guilty July 15, 2020 to being an accessory to first-degree murder in the deaths of Danny and Kathy Freeman, the torching of their home near Welch, Oklahoma, and the abduction and presumed slayings of the two girls.

[38] He admitted having withheld information about the involvement of Warren "Phil" Welch and David Pennington, both of whom have since died without ever having been charged.

[40] Prior to the formal creation and writing of the script and music, the production team visited the town of Picher and were toured around by Rebecca Jim.