After reading your story concerning Picher, Oklahoma, I wish to tell you my expiernces there. My grandfather, Charlie Charboneau, was a lead, zinc, and jack miner for the Eagle Picher Mining company. You made mention of there being photos of the miners gathered in front of the mine shafts and was wondering how I could get some of the photos. I remember my grandad enjoying playing the violin, but before playing he would light a fire outside to scare off the mosquitoes. After a hard day at the mines he would come home and this would be the family entertainment. My brother and I were orphaned at a very young age. We went to live with my grandparents, Charlie and Sarah Charboneau. My brother and I would climb the chat piles from the mines and would gather copper and anything else we could find to help pay the grocery bill. I remember a small Mom & Pop grocery store burning to the ground and and leaving canned goods which was taken home for us to eat. Also my brother had a little steam engine that ran on alcohol and when we exausted the fuel for it we hooked it up to a treadle sewing machine. We lived close to the mine. One day my brother and I were sent to the store. On the way home while we were walking across the slush pond gates and I fell in. It was a very good feeling when someone grabbed me by the hair and pulled me out. Occassionaly they would open the gates and let the slush pond drain out into the streets. My grandmother would on occassion send us over to the blacksmith shop for small steel shavings, which she would put in vinegar, let it soak and then drink it. Never did know why she did it. Your letter stirred some of my memories of living in Picher and wanted to share some of my boyhood memories in this 91 years of my life. Please if anyone has photos of my grandad, Charlie Charboneau at the mines I would greatly like to be able to see them.