Ottawa County history

In 1867 the federal government purchased land from the Seneca/Shawnee and the Quapaw to relocate several tribes then residing in Kansas.

After the Modoc War (1872–73) 153 Moduc were placed on the Quapaw Reservation.

In 1901 the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railway, leased to the St Louis and San Francisco Railway that same year, built from the Kansas border to Afton.

In 1906–07 the Southwest Missouri Railroad built an interurban line from Baxter Springs, Kansas, to Picher to haul lead and zinc.

In 1907 Ottawa County farmers planted 55,483 acres of it, as well as 8,276 acres of wheat, and 5,800 acres of oats.

In 1912–13 the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad, eventually sold to the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway, laid rails from the Kansas-Oklahoma line south through Ottawa County to Wagoner.

As the lead and zinc industry flourished, the number climbed, reaching 41,108 in 1920 and gradually declined with mining industry.

By 1935 ranchers had increased the cattle to 19,957, and there were 10,984 swine and 3,974 horses.

The Neosho (Grand) and Spring rivers once merged in the county, but they now drain into the Lake O' the Cherokees, known as Grand Lake, impounded in 1940.

Arrell M. Gibson, Wilderness Bonanza: The Tri-State District of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972).

Velma Nieberding, The History of Ottawa County (Miami, Okla.: Walsworth Publishing Co., 1983).

On August 23, 1985, known in the region as "Black Friday," Goodrich announced the plant's closing.

The county's average income was 27,370 dollars per person in 1999, with almost seven percent of the population living in poverty.

By 2000 the Tar Creek Superfund Site, a federally funded clean-up project, centered on Picher and encompassed most of the former lead and zinc production centers.