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.
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Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
Armagnac, Alden P.
1954 Fortunes in Uranium.
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1956 America’s Biggest Uranium Mine.
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Borgeson, Griff
1956 How to Choose a Geiger Counter.
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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)
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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.
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Minerals and Mineral Localities of Utah. Bulletin 117. Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, Utah Department of Natural Resources [n.p.].
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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.
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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.
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Jensen, Buckley
2011 The Sitton Brothers: From Rags to Riches.
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Kelly, Charles
1944 Arrows from the Rainbow.
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1950 He Tells ’em How to Find Uranium.
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1949 Grubstake that Paid Off.
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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).
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2018a Hite. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, AZ, UT. Electronic document,
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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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