Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of Cardin's overgrown street grid among pale chat piles and ponds

Other mining and oil town

Cardin

A lead and zinc town on the southwest edge of Picher. It held 2,640 people in 1920, and like its neighbor it was bought out and emptied. The newest view of what stands there is a 2008 photo, and we found nothing on whether visitors may enter.

36°58′32″N 94°51′06″W · ≈810 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain). See the photographs in the gallery below.

Abandoned · 2008 photo

Cardin is inside the EPA's Tar Creek Superfund site. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History says it "has been abandoned and has no residents." The newest first-hand view we found is a photo of downtown Cardin from March 2008. We couldn't confirm who owns the townsite now, which streets are open, or whether visitors may walk it. The chat piles around it are mine waste. Stay on public roads.

Overview

Picher's neighbor in the lead field

Downtown Cardin in March 2008, with the water tower in the distance
Downtown Cardin in March 2008, with the water tower in the distance · Photo: Tim Dowd, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Cardin began in 1913 as a mining town called Tar River, in the Picher lead and zinc field just southwest of Picher. In June 1918 William Oscar Cardin, a Quapaw, and his wife Isa Wade Cardin had his 40-acre allotment platted as a townsite, and in 1920 the town took their name. That year it had 2,640 people, many of them mineworkers.

The boom faded fast. By 1930 the population had fallen to 437, and the town gave up its incorporation in 1938. It incorporated again in 1983 to get federal grants and loans for a sewer lagoon and new water lines, the same year the area was added to the Tar Creek Superfund site.

Cardin shared Picher's fate. Between 2008 and 2010 the Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust bought out its property. The post office, the last business, closed on February 28, 2009, and the town was officially closed that year. The April 2010 census found three people, and the last family received its final buyout payment that November.

Timeline

Tar River to buyout

  1. A mining town called Tar River starts in the Picher lead and zinc field.
  2. William Oscar Cardin, a Quapaw, and his wife Isa Wade Cardin have his 40-acre allotment platted as a townsite.
  3. The name changes from Tar River to Cardin. The census counts 2,640 people, many of them mineworkers.
  4. 1,000 more acres in the original plat turn out to be restricted allotments and are taken out of the town.
  5. The population has fallen to 437.
  6. Cardin disincorporates.
  7. It reincorporates to get federal grants and loans for a sewer lagoon and new water lines. The same year the area is added to the Tar Creek Superfund site.
  8. The post office, the town's last business, closes. The town is officially closed that year.
  9. The census counts 3 people in April. In November the last family receives its final buyout payment.

Site map

A grid among the chat

The newest account we found of which buildings stand is the March 2008 photo above. It shows metal buildings, houses and the water tower along an empty street. The current aerial imagery shows the small street grid overgrown with trees, with a few buildings and pale chat piles and ponds around it.

The 1961 topo sheet in the historic maps below shows Cardin's grid on a railroad, ringed by tailings, with Picher's larger grid to the northeast. The 1954 sheet shades Cardin and Picher as one built-up area among mine symbols, and the 1986 sheet names Cardin between Picher and Douthat.

USGS topographic map of the Cardin street grid, with Tar Creek to the east and Picher to the northeast
USGS The National Map, topo. Cardin's grid sits north of East 30 Road; Tar Creek runs to the east and Picher's streets begin at upper right.
Aerial view of an overgrown street grid with a few buildings, between pale chat piles and a pond
Aerial imagery, same area. Trees fill the old blocks; chat piles and a pond lie to the north and west.

Historic maps

Cardin on USGS maps, 1954–1986

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Cardin, 1954
Tulsa sheet, 1954, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Cardin is about a mile southwest of Picher. Miami is the nearest city, and Joplin, Missouri, is about 40 minutes away. Both routes were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us; we couldn't confirm that the streets inside the old town are open.

Topographic map from Miami north to Cardin, with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Miami7.5 miabout 14 min
  1. From downtown Miami, head north on South Main Street, which becomes US 69.4.8 mi
  2. Continue on North Mickey Mantle Boulevard through Commerce.0.9 mi
  3. Bear right onto County Road S565.1.5 mi
  4. Turn right onto 1st Street, County Road E30, then left onto Main Street.0.4 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • We haven't driven these routes. We couldn't confirm which streets inside the buyout area are open.
  • The chat piles are mine waste from lead and zinc mining. Don't climb them or let children or pets play on them.

Photos

Cardin in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Cardin?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Cardin

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Oklahoma index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, "Cardin" (Herman McMullin, updated 2024): Tar River name, platting, 1923 deannexation, rename, populations 1920–2010, disincorporation and reincorporation, Superfund, buyout trust, closure, "abandoned and has no residents."
  2. Wikipedia, "Cardin, Oklahoma", retrieved October 2026: mineworkers in 1920, post office closing, last buyout payment, coordinates.
  3. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, "Picher": the area's Superfund listing in 1983.
  4. 405 Magazine, "Picher: Oklahoma's Best-Known Ghost Town" (March 2024): chat as a hazardous byproduct of lead and zinc mining.
  5. ghosttowns.com, "Cardin": fact-sheet cross-check (county, 2WD roads).
  6. Tim Dowd, "Cardinoklahoma.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, taken March 31, 2008: downtown Cardin with buildings and the water tower.
  7. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Record5 of 9
  • Coordinates
  • Founding and naming
  • Census counts, 1920–2010
  • Buyout and closure
  • Historic maps, 1954–1986
  • Current land ownership
  • Access status
  • What still stands
  • Photos since 2008
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.