Treece, Kansas, doesn't exist anymore.
Founded in 1917 around a mining operation, the town served as a major supplier of lead, zinc, and iron ore for decades. But when the reserves dried up, the local economy collapsed. Then people started getting sick. The mining had made their own backyards turn toxic.
Residents left Treece in 2012 as part of a government-funded relocation program after the EPA named it one of the most environmentally devastated places in the country. Where churches, a city hall, and small businesses once stood, torn-up roads and murky, orange waters remain.
Before the exodus, photographer Dina Kantor traveled to Treece on numerous occasions to document a community that would soon cease to exist. She shared her journey with us.
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A hundred years ago, a mining company truck broke down on its way to Oklahoma. The crew dug a hole to pass the time — so the story goes — and discovered a reserve of lead and zinc.
Source: New York Times
Treece, Kansas, was born. The town led zinc and lead production in the US by the 1920s, and supplied metal for most of the ammunition in World Wars I and II.
Source: New York Times
Luck ran out by the 1960s. The reserves dried up, and the mining companies went bankrupt or left, taking their employees with them. The population fell to 138 by 2010.
Source: US Census
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