As Utah’s “oldest nonagricultural industry” (Whitley 2006:xiii), mining has been an important part of the diversification of the state’s economy and population, impacting “geography, architecture, business activity. . . social movements. . . ethnic and geographical landscapes” (Notarianni 2006:xi). At the turn of the twentieth century, Utah was ranked “among the first five states
Advertisement for Radior cosmetics, dated 1918 (via Wikimedia Commons).
of the nation in the production of silver, of gold, of lead and zinc” (Clyde 1964:5). The Colorado Plateau encircles the Four Corners area, straddling the Utah-Colorado state line and extending approximately 100 miles into Utah and 30 miles into Colorado. The stores of radioactive ores on the Colorado Plateau are unique to the region, having become concentrated in sandstone after being transported by groundwater and precipitated by chemical reaction upon contact with organic matter (Parry 2006:34). Wayne County is an irregular east–west rectangle at the southern extent of the Colorado Plateau of southeastern Utah (Figure 1). Wayne County has produced precious and base metals, salt, coal, oil shale, and radioactive materials (Whitley 2006). The county’s reserves of radioactive ores played a critical role as one of the only domestic sources (together with other parts of the Colorado Plateau in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico) of radium, vanadium, and uranium throughout the twentieth century. Radium was sought for its purported medicinal properties and as a colorant. Vanadium was important in alloying steel. Uranium was critical in the development of nuclear arms and power. In some ways, the history of radioactive metal mining mirrors that of the mining of other ores sought in the U.S. West, but as demonstrated in the following sections, in other ways, the industry is characterized by unique circumstances, including scientific innovations, geomorphology, and the properties of the ores themselves.
Uranium prospecting by bulldozer, Utah, 1956
Carnotite is a secondary metal, typically bright yellow, found in sandstones, and particularly in paleochannels and in association with fossilized carbonaceous matter such as petrified wood (Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 2018). Carnotite contains radium, uranium, and vanadium—all three of which are radioactive. Radium, discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898, was found to be far more radioactive than pure uranium (Davis 1921:229). Uranium is a hard, white, unstable metal, which, through a series of chain reactions, emits energy in the form of radiation. Controlled splitting of the uranium nucleus (a process known as fission) produces powerful nuclear energy. Uranium is not naturally present in its pure form; it is always found in combination with other substances forming related ores. Vanadium, a silver-gray metal with important applications as a steel alloy, can also be isolated from radioactive ores, including from waste piles resulting from earlier radium mining (Ringholz 1990:26). The radioactive ores in Wayne County are focused in five areas, presented here from west to east: the Fremont District in Capitol Reef National Park, various outcrops in the Henry Mountains, the Orange Cliff District near the southeastern corner of the county, various locations in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and the Mineral Canyon District in the extreme northeast corner of the county (Gloyn et al. 2005). The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) recognized the Henry Mountains District (covering roughly the western two-thirds of Wayne County) and the Green River District (covering the eastern one-third of the county) (Stokes 1967:2). The Green River District included the Orange Cliffs area, with deposits in both the Chinle and the Morrison Formations. The Henry Mountains District included portions of the Morrison Formation. Production in the district was “minor and no first order deposits are known” (Stokes 1967:11).
Numerous directional signs for uranium mines in Emery County
Can I visit these sites?
In general these sites are not well-suited for modern visitation. Many mining sites, in general, have deep shafts, unstable adits, dangerous heavy metals, and other unsafe features. Large uranium mines in Utah are no different. Smaller archaeological sites associated with mining likely have little left that would indicate that uranium mining had occurred there.
Figure 20. Government ore-buying station and sampling plant, Monticello, Utah, ca. 1957 (via Wikimedia Commons).
Further Reading
Statistical Research, Inc. wrote the draft National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Submission on behalf of the Utah State Historic Preservation Office and the Bureau of Land Management – Richfield Field Office. The above is an excerpt from that NRHP MPS. Other sources of pertinent data include the following, which may contain data for future site-specific and thematic research: Mining & Scientific Press Engineering & Mining Journal Engineering and Mining Journal-Press Secretary of War records regarding metals and minerals considered strategic to the war effort Dare, W. L. 1961 Uranium Mining Methods and Costs at Several Mines on the Colorado Plateau. Information Circular 8015, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C. Dare, W. L., and D. T. Delicate 1957 Mining Methods and Costs—La Sal Mining & Development Co., La Sal Uranium Mine, San Juan County, Utah. Information Circular 7803, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C. Searcy, Michael T. 2012 A History of the Copper Globe, Lucky Strike, Tomsich Butte, Hidden Splendor and Little Susan Mines within the San Rafael Swell Mining District Based on Oral Interviews. Emery County, Utah, Museum of Peoples and Cultures Technical Series No. 11-13. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. [Oral-history transcripts from interviews with miners, a miner’s wife, and a U.S. Bureau of Land Management compliance officer regarding uranium mines in the San Rafael Swell Mining District.] Alexander, Thomas G. 2006 Generating Wealth from the Earth. In From the Ground Up: The History of Mining in Utah, edited by Colleen Whitley, pp. 37–57. Utah State University Press, Logan. Amundson, Michael A. 2004 Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Armagnac, Alden P. 1954 Fortunes in Uranium. Popular Science 165(2). 1956 America’s Biggest Uranium Mine. Popular Science 169(1):132, 214. Borgeson, Griff 1956 How to Choose a Geiger Counter. Popular Science 168(1):209–212. Brower, Benjamin 1995 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Oyler Mine. National Register Information System 99001092. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Brugge, Doug, Timothy Benally, and Esther Yazzie-Lewis (editors) 2006 The Navajo People and Uranium Mining. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Brugge, Doug, and Rob Goble 2002 The History of Uranium Mining and the Navajo People. American Journal of Public Health 92(9):1410–1419. Bullock, Kenneth C. 1981 Minerals and Mineral Localities of Utah. Bulletin 117. Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, Utah Department of Natural Resources [n.p.]. Buranek, Alfred M. 1942 The Occurrences of Vanadium-Uranium Ores in Utah and Colorado. Circular No. 22. Utah Department of Publicity & Industrial Development, Raw Materials Division, Salt Lake City. California Department of Transportation 2008 A Historic Context and Archaeological Research Design for Mining Properties in California. Division of Environmental Analysis, California Department of Transportation, Sacramento. 2013 A Historical Context and Archaeological Research Design for Work Camp Properties in California. Division of Environmental Analysis, California Department of Transportation, Sacramento. Clark, Claudia 1997 Radium Girls, Women, and Industrial Health Reform: 1910–1935. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. Clyde, George D. 1964 Utah after Statehood. Utah Historical Quarterly 32(1). Cohenour, R. E. 1967 History of Uranium and Development of Colorado Plateau Ores with Notes on Uranium Production in Utah. In Uranium Districts of Southeastern Utah, edited by Lehi F. Hintze, J. Keith Rigby, and Byron J. Sharp, pp. 12–22. Guidebook to the Geology of Utah No. 21. Utah Geological Society, Salt Lake City. Davis, C. W. 1921 Radio-Activity and Some Practical Applications. Mining and Scientific Press 122 (February 12):229–232. DeMille, John B. 1947 Strategic Minerals: A Summary of Uses, World Output Stockpiles, Procurement. McGraw-Hill, New York. Douglas, Archibald 1914 The National Radium Institute. Mining and Scientific Press 108(1)(Whole Number 2789):16. Eisenhower Archives n.d. “Atoms for Peace” Address before the General Assembly of the United Nations on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, New York City, December 8th, 1953. Electronic document, https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/ All_About_Ike/Speeches/Atoms_for_Peace.pdf, accessed October 10, 2018. Ekker, Hazel B. 1955 Highlights—Past or Present; Arthur and Hazel Ekker of Green River, Utah; Uranium Rush Yields to Steady Expansion. Green River Journal August 11. Green River, Utah. Frame, Paul W. 1989 Radioactive Curative Devices and Spas. Oak Ridger 5 November. Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Frye, Bradford J. 1998 From Barrier to Crossroads: An Administrative History of Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Cultural Resources Selections No. 12. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Intermountain Region, Denver, Colorado. Gloyn, Robert W., Roger L. Bon, Sharon Wakefield, and Ken Krahulec 2005 Uranium and Vanadium Map of Utah. Map, scale 1:750,000. Map 215. Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City. Goeltz, N. Sylvia (compiler) 1970 A Directory of the Mining Industry of Utah: 1967. Bulletin 84. Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, Utah Department of Natural Resources [n.p.]. Gray, Earle 1982 The Great Uranium Cartel. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Green River Journal 1955 Green River Is Boom Town with Uranium Companies Working. 27 October. Green River, Utah. Hamrick, John S., Diane E. Kocis, and Sue E. Shepard 2002 Uravan, Colorado: One Hundred Years of History. Umetco Minerals Corporation, Grand Junction, Colorado. Hintze, Lehi F., J. Keith Rigby, and Byron J. Sharp (editors) 1967 Uranium Districts of Southeastern Utah. Guidebook to the Geology of Utah No. 21. Utah Geological Society, Salt Lake City. Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) 1968 Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) Naturita Mill, 3 miles Northwest of Naturita, between Highway 141 & San Miguel River, Naturita, Montrose County, CO. Electronic document, https://www.loc.gov/item/co0381/, accessed October 24, 2018. Howard, L. O. 1914 The Development of Our Radium Bearing Ores. Salt Lake Mining Review 28 February. Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 2018 Carnotite. Electronic document, https://www.mindat.org/min-907.html, accessed September 28, 2018.
Uranium sampling in Utah laboratory, 1954
Huxford, Sharon, and Bob Huxford 1992 The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Fiesta. 7th ed. Collector Books, Paducah, Kentucky. Jensen, Buckley 2011 The Sitton Brothers: From Rags to Riches. San Juan Record 30 March. Monticello, Utah. Johnson, Henry S., Jr. 1957 Uranium Resources of the Green River and Henry Mountains Districts, Utah: A Regional Synthesis. Trace Elements Investigations Report 554. U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. Kelly, Charles 1944 Arrows from the Rainbow. Desert Magazine 7(11):9–11. Kroenig, Matthew 2010 Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York. Lederer, Muriel 1955 They’re Finding Paydirt on the Colorado Plateau. Desert Magazine 18(1):4–8. Leonard, Olen, and Lay James Gibson 1978 Towns of Strangers: Social Structure and the Miner Subculture in the Uranium Belt of Northwestern New Mexico. San Juan Basin Regional Uranium Study, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Limbaugh, Ronald H. 2006 Strategic Metals and National Defense: Tungsten in World War II (and Beyond). Mining History Journal 13:38–46. Malin, Stephanie A. 2015 The Price of Nuclear Power: Uranium Communities and Environmental Justice. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey. McElrath, Jean 1950 He Tells ’em How to Find Uranium. Desert Magazine 14(1):27–28. McKay, Kathryn L. 2011 Mining Idaho’s History: Metal Mining in Idaho, 1860–1960. Idaho State Historical Society, Boise. Monroe, Morgan 1949 Grubstake that Paid Off. Desert Magazine 12(11):15–19. Moore, Kate 2017 Radium Girls. Simon & Schuster, [n.p.]. Murphy, Miriam B. 1999 A History of Wayne County. Wayne County Commission, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City. Nash, A. L. 1953 Airborne Radiometric Surveying in Grand, San Juan, Emery, and Wayne Counties, Utah, and Montrose County, Colorado. Atomic Energy Commission, Explorations Division, Grand Junction, Colorado. National Archives and Records Administration 2014 Record Group 234: Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Metals Reserve Company (MRC). National Archives Southeast Region, Records of the General Services Administration, Reconstruction Finance Corporation Unscheduled Records (RG 234). National Park Service 2018a Hite. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, AZ, UT. Electronic document, https://www.nps.gov/glca/ planyourvisit/hite.htm, accessed June 14, 2018. 2018b Park Founders. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Electronic document, https://www.nps.gov/care/learn/ historyculture/park-founders.htm, accessed June 11, 2018. National Radiation Instrument Catalog 2018 National Radiation Instrument Catalog. Electronic document, http://www.national-radiation-instrument- catalog.com/new_page_1.htm, accessed June 13, 2018. Notarianni, Philip F. 2006 Foreword. In From the Ground Up: The History of Mining in Utah, edited by Colleen Whitley, pp. xi–xii. Utah State University Press, Logan. Oak Ridge Associated Universities 2007 Introduction to Electroscopes. Electronic document, https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/electroscopes/ electroscopeintroduction.htm, accessed June 19, 2018. 2009a Fiestaware (ca. 1930s). Electronic document, https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/ fiesta.htm, accessed June 20, 2018. 2009b Vaseline and Uranium Glass (ca. 1930s). Electronic document, https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer% 20products/vaseline.htm, accessed June 20, 2018. 2009c Uranium Containing Marble (ca. 1960s). Electronic document, https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/ consumer%20products/marbles.htm, accessed June 19, 2018. 2009d Uranium Rush Board Game (1955–1958). Electronic document https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/ atomictoys/uraniumrush.htm, accessed September 28, 2018. 2009e Uranium Assay Kit (ca. 1950s). Electronic document, https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/Miscellaneous/ uraniumassaykit.htm, accessed June 20, 2018. Osborn, H. S. 1897 The Prospector’s Field-Book and Guide in the Search for and the Easy Determination of Ores and Other Useful Minerals. Henry Carey Baird, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Parsons, Charles L., R. B. Moore, S. C. Lind, and O. C. Schaefer 1915 Extraction and Recovery of Radium, Uranium, and Vanadium from Carnotite. U.S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 104, Mineral Technology 12. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Peele, Robert (editor) 1918 Mining Engineers’ Handbook. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Popular Science 1946 How to Hunt for Uranium. Popular Science 148(2):121–123, 208. Ringholz, Raye C. 1990 Utah’s Uranium Boom. Beehive History 16:25–27. 2006 Uranium Boom. In From the Ground Up: The History of Mining in Utah, edited by Colleen Whitley, pp. 142–165. Utah State University Press, Logan. Robinson, Clay 1936 Wayne County. Richfield Reaper 25 June. Richfield, Utah. Salt Lake Telegram 1914 Would Develop Deposits of Radium in Utah. 19 January. Salt Lake City, Utah. San Juan Record 1952a Uranium Prospecting in Henry Mtn. Region Utah, Aided by New Map. 29 May. Monticello, Utah. 1952b Uranium Ore Unit Due in Elgin Area. 21 August. Monticello, Utah. Shumway, Gary Lee 1970 A History of the Uranium Industry on the Colorado Plateau. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Stokes, William Lee 1967 A Survey of Southeastern Utah Uranium Districts. In Uranium Districts of Southeastern Utah, edited by Lehi F. Hintze, J. Keith Rigby, and Byron J. Sharp, pp. 1–11. Guidebook to the Geology of Utah No. 21. Utah Geological Society, Salt Lake City. Thrush, Paul W. (compiler) 1968 A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C. Times-Independent 1913 News from West End of County. 31 October. Moab, Utah. 1914a Elgin Notes. 3 April. Moab, Utah. 1914b Elgin Notes. 17 April. Moab, Utah. 1928 Recovery of Radium, Vanadium, and Uranium from Carnotite Ores. 5 July. Moab, Utah. 1931 Vanadium from the Moab Carnotite Fields. 9 April. Moab, Utah. 1945 Atomic Bomb Element Produced Here. 16 August. Moab, Utah. 1948 Rich Carnotite District Described by Eminent Mining Engineer. 19 February. Moab, Utah. 1950 Greenriver News. 13 July. Moab, Utah. 1951 Million-Dollar Access Road Program to Start before First of Year. 8 November. Moab, Utah. 1952a Hunt for Uranium Promises to Dwarf Old-Time Gold Rushes in Importance. 8 May. Moab, Utah. 1952b Cornelius Ekker Passes Away at Green River. 13 March. Moab, Utah. 1955a Uranium Hunt Grows Steadily, Future Hidden Only by Needs. 24 February. Moab, Utah. 1955b 650 Claims Bought by Group of Texans. 24 February. Moab, Utah. Twitty, Eric 2008 National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form: Guide to Assessing Historic Radium, Uranium, and Vanadium Mining Resources in Montrose and San Miguel Counties, Colorado. Mountain States Historical, Boulder, Colorado. 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Vernal Express 1955 Sprawling USV Mill at Uravan Gets Ore from All Mesa Area. 17 February. Vernal, Utah. Wade, James L. 1913 Rare Metals Industry Is Coming Big Enterprise. Grand Valley Times 19 December. Moab, Utah. Wayne County 2018 Overview. Electronic document, http://www.waynecountyutah.org/about/about-wayne-county/overview/, accessed June 11, 2018. Whitley, Colleen 2006 Preface. In From the Ground Up: The History of Mining in Utah, edited by Colleen Whitley, pp. xiii–xiv. Utah State University Press, Logan. A huge thank you for this piece goes to SRI who wrote the historical context!
Newspaper advertisement for Radium Appliance Company, as it appeared in The Piute Chieftain, Marysvale, Utah, 1917.
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