Within the first half of the twentieth century the so-called Tri-State mining district of southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma experienced boom and bust. Comprising approximately 1,200 square miles, this area was once the world's leading producer of zinc and lead ores. With Joplin, Missouri, as its financial, distribution, supply, and wholesale center, the district included bonanza fields at Galena and Baxter Springs, Kansas, and Commerce and Picher, Oklahoma. But the deposits were shallow, scattered, and short-lived, and by the 1950s few companies and fewer...