MIAMI, Okla. —
Billie Crawford, 89, sat in a director’s chair Monday afternoon in the lower level of the Dobson Museum and recalled in front of a video camera all that he could about his 50 years in mining.
“I can remember where I worked the first day and where I shoveled,” Crawford told the interviewer, Tom Mast. “It was May 16, 1942 ... at Central Mill for EaglePicher.”
The scene — miner, interviewer, director’s chairs, video camera — is one that will play out dozens of times in the coming weeks as a documentary team gathers footage for “The Ozarks Uplift: The Story of Tri-State Mining.”
It’s a production that backers believe will be the first of its kind.
“It’s going to involve all of our states and will explain who we are and why we are,” said Steve Roark, president of the Newton County (Mo.) Tourism Council, which has headed up seeking investors for the project. “All of the things we have today were either an offshoot of or were promoted by mining. A lot of it we take for granted, but we can trace what this area is now back to the zinc, the lead and the coal that was used to get the ore out of the zinc and lead.
“We want to try to hit very hard on the human side of the story: how it affected families, what it meant to them. There are a lot of compelling stories out there.”
One such story is the one told by Crawford, an Anderson, Mo., native who worked in Oklahoma to build what would become an iconic chat pile at the Central Mill, located between Commerce and Picher. It was 365 feet high and more than a football field in length.
“It took 15 million tons, they figured,” Crawford said.
He also helped to clear the pile when the mine closed in 1970. Until he retired in 1992, mining was very much a part of his family’s everyday life. Danger also was an everyday part of life, he said, from the lung disease silicosis to cave-ins, and he saw several men die as a result. But they didn’t worry too much about it, he said.
“Everybody back then, you were just looking for something to eat,” he said.
The documentary crew that will be filming stories like Crawford’s, along with thousands of photos and historical documents provided by area museums, is under the direction of Paul Wannenmacher, of Springfield, Mo. Roark pointed to him as the brainchild for the idea.
Wannenmacher has three previous credits in conjunction with the tourism council: a documentary on Thomas Hart Benton, a native of Neosho, Mo.; a documentary on noted Western artist Charles Banks Wilson, of Oklahoma; and a documentary on the Newtonia Battlefield in Newton County.
“We believe this one has the potential to be our crown jewel,” Roark said, noting that the documentary will include not only the prosperity that mining brought to the area, but also the human and environmental costs of mining.
“I think people just knew it was a story worth telling,” said Wannenmacher, who worked in an Ohio steel mill during the summers to put himself through college in the late 1960s and describes his upbringing as “very blue collar.”
“Somehow eons ago, the movement of the earth here deposited great ore into two counties in Kansas, two counties in Missouri and two counties in Oklahoma,” he said. “This area did not know state lines. State lines today are hurting us. People in Southeast Kansas actually have more in common with Southwest Missouri than with people in Wichita. Perhaps they just haven’t realized it.
“And individually, perhaps each of those areas doesn’t have a strong enough story to attract interest, to attract someone coming through the area on their way somewhere else. But put them together, and it’s stronger.”
Roark telling the story with a regional approach could serve to benefit the museums and historical attractions in the Tri-State Area.
“We have wonderful museums in these areas,” Roark said. “There are a wealth of resources we think have a very important place in tourism. We want to try to break down these natural barriers we call state borders to cross-promote tourism efforts.”
The one-hour documentary will air on Ozarks Public Television out of Springfield and will be sold at area museums. Any footage that ends up on the cutting room floor will be organized and made available to museum archives for research.
“It has the potential of really unifying the area and opening up a better dialogue,” Roark said It’s a very important part of our history, a history that touches all of us.”
Area towns
THE CREW WILL FOCUS on interviews at museums in the Kansas communities of Baxter Springs, Franklin, West Mineral and Pittsburg, and in the Missouri towns of Joplin, Granby, Carthage and Seneca.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Paul Wannemacher, left, and Billie Crawford look over photos from Crawford's mining days before an interview at the Dobson Museum on Monday. Globe/Roger Nomer
-
Billie Crawford points out younger self in an old mining photo for Ana Pierce before an interview on Monday at the Dobson Museum. Globe/Roger Nomer
-
Larry Roberts, president of the Ottawa County Historical Society, looks through negatives at the Dobson Museum for use in an upcoming mining documentary. Globe/Roger Nomer
Discussion
Documentary to focus on area’s mining past
- Local News
-
-
Farmers Insurance teams up with Rebuild Joplin
Farmers Insurance announced Tuesday that the company will team up with Rebuild Joplin for an initiative to help the community complete its recovery efforts. The company already has placed one of its executives in Joplin, and it is pledging additional funds and volunteer hours by company workers to go toward the city’s recovery.
-
Crowder president to join MSSU staff
Alan Marble, who will retire as president of Crowder College in June, has been hired as special assistant to the president of Missouri Southern State University. “With his long experience in higher education administration and his intricate knowledge of the needs of students, we knew Dr. Marble would be a great fit at MSSU,” President Bruce Speck said in a statement that announced the transition.
-
Mike Pound: Husband helps pull off surprise for Carl Junction teacher
Keri Keckley said the key to pulling off the Sunday surprise was the deceptive minister.
Boy, if that isn’t a great opening line for a crime novel, I don’t know what is. But in this case, the line doesn’t belong in a crime novel. It belongs in this column. -
‘Letting Go Day’ planned to help clear the clutter
When Ann Leach lost most of her possessions in the tornado that struck Joplin on May 22, 2011, she realized that things don’t matter that much.
-
Arma mother facing murder charge in sleeping baby’s death
Heather Buckalew fell asleep on a couch with her 4-month-old baby after a night last summer drinking beer with her boyfriend. The boyfriend, Donald Harvey, got up to go to work a few hours later and spotted his son, lying face down on a pillow between the back of the couch and his sleeping mother.
-
Joplin residents lend a hand in Moore
Joplin is paying it forward. The day before the two-year anniversary of an EF-5 tornado leveling one-third of Joplin, pastors from Ignite Church in Joplin were in Moore, where an EF-5 spent 40 minutes on the ground on Monday.
-
Monetary donations cited as best help for Moore
Financial support for organizations providing shelter and supplies to Oklahoma tornado survivors is recommended for people who want to help. Otherwise, the word is to wait for requests.
-
Joplin man continues struggle to recover two years after tornado
As the Joplin tornado passed overhead, sweeping the house at 2430 S. Pennsylvania Ave. away in its wake, there was a moment of calm. Delbert Mcguirk was on his back in the basement, where he had sought shelter along with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren. In that moment of relative quiet, he stared up into the eye of the tornado.
-
Via Christi Health to cut up to 400 positions across state; Pittsburg impact uncertain
Via Christi Health announced Today that it would cut up to 400 positions within its system across the state of Kansas to compensate for financial challenges as a result of declining hospital and physician visits.
-
Globe reporter describes scene in Moore, Okla.
Joplin Globe Reporter Andra Stefanoni said the tornado-damaged town of Moore, Okla., is eerily reminiscent of Joplin on May 22, 2011.
- More Local News Headlines
-
