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After listing Uravan as my least favorite town in another thread, I decided to research the place a little further. What I discovered is yet one more example of Colorado putting the good of the energy and mining industries over the good of the environment and the people of Colorado:
The majority of the radioactive uranium for the development of the atomic bomb was produced in Colorado in a desolate little town called Uravan. The town is shown on Colorado maps as being located on Highway 141 in Montrose County near the Utah border about 90 miles south of Grand Junction. But there’s no “there” there. All you’ll see these days is a tall chain lock fence, bare earth and two mysterious metal buildings.
But back in 1912, Standard Chemical Co. built the Joe Jr. Mill there to process the radium ore. For a while, the region was the world’s leading source of radium, but then even bigger deposits of radium were found in the Congo. In 1928 the U.S. Vanadium Corp. bought the old radium mill and began re-processing tailings for vanadium - used to strengthen steel. The company town of Uravan sprang up next to the mill. At one time the town had around 700 inhabitants
During WWII U.S. Vanadium held a secret contract with the War Department to use the mill to concentrate uranium. Processing ore from area mines, the company produced 75 percent of the uranium used in the first generation of atomic bombs and the town of Uravan had a population boom of about 700 inhabitants. After WWII ended, the cold war kept prices of uranium high and many miners grubbed out a living mining uranium from the mesas that surrounded the town. But when Three Mile Island happened it ended the area’s uranium boom for good. By then Union Carbide owned the mill which was shut down in 1984, leaving uranium dust blowing in the air and the seepage from unlined sludge ponds contaminated parts of the San Miguel River (which just so happens to flow into the Dolores River – the major source of water supply for the Four Corners). The area became a superfund clean-up site and was deemed “safe” in 2008. (there seems to be disagreement about the year in different sources - some cite 2001 instead of 2008)
Just how safe it really is I question. The San Miguel is a dead river for many miles downstream from what was once Uravan. There’s little to no aquatic plant life on its shores or in the river proper. Reach down and scoop up a handful of river mud and it has that sulfur stink peculiar to anaerobic respiration – meaning the aquatic life in that part of the river STILL has not returned to normal. And then there’re all those former miners who worked in Uravan’s mines either dead or dying from lung cancer. Will Colorado learn from the hard lessons of the past when it comes to the current energy boom and fracking? One can’t help but wonder. The dead uranium miners of the non-existent town of Uravan tell no tales. Only the skulls that line the canyon walls on highway 141 serve as a reminder for those who know their significance.
The town of Uravan was dismantled and buried during the Superfund cleanup. The mantra—as now—when it was an operational town was surely 'jobs, jobs, jobs.' With—as now—little thought to future consequences.
Part of the Superfund cleanup process there entailed removing 12 million yards of mine tailings dumped along the San Miguel River. Also the pumping and treating of contaminated groundwater. With results, it seems, questionable.
Remediating what is now being done with fracking widespread across Colorado, rather than in one quite isolated spot, will not be near as simple. Not just due the many locations but what is being done geologically underground.
The lasting effects will not just be downstream on rivers such as the San Miguel, but throughout our vital underground water resources.
The Dolores manages to stay a living river as far as the small town of Naturita, roughly 15 miles south of the imaginary town of Uravan. Naturita has plently of settling ponds, abandoned mines, and radioactive dust of its own blowing in the wind. The heavily polluted San Miguel hits the Dolores further upstream and kills the river just like that. The Dolores starts to come back to life a little another 30 miles or so south on 141 near the Sewemup Mesa Wilderness Study Area. I've spent quite a bit of time in the region, driving down roads that lead to old mines and settling ponds which double as water tanks for the cattle that wander the area at the whim of ranchers with BLM grazing permits. Coming across one of these settling ponds with the warning from the DOE clearly posted, and a dead cow laying with 4 legs in the air in the middle of the pond is enough to put you off beef forever. People who worked the mines in the region continue to contract and die of cancer in astonishingly high numbers as documented by the EPA, DOE, etc. Quite a few Navajo worked in those mines, too, and the skulls in the picture above are a part of a Navajo healing ceremony held up above Uravan. I don't know enough of the Navajo ceremonials to say for sure what the skulls represent, but I think they're warning away people who are not participating in the Navajo healing rituals. I don't have the science to back me up on this, but from personal observation, it would seem that the entire upper part of the 15' map on page 64 of the Colorado Atlas and Gazetteer remains trashed. Super fund clean-up or no super-fund clean-up.
I know all of that country quite well. One should also note that the now booming resort of Moab was a center of uranium production back in the 50's and 60's. I am hesitant to judge some of the environmental scourges that occurred back in those days because many of the hazards--some of them quite extreme--were not fully known at the time, and, in some cases, really weren't known at all.
The lesson that should be learned from that, but isn't really being learned at all, is that almost any technological advance--no matter how wonderful it seems at the time--has a dark side that often is not recognized readily or quickly. For example, as "nifty" as solar photovoltaic cells may seem to many, there is not much said about the environmental damage being done to mine all of the rare earth minerals that are necessary for that technology to exist. We could find, someday, that the environmental costs of that eventually outweigh the benefits of the technology.
What I have learned over a pretty long life is that every technological advance also comes with some high costs--just like everything else in life, there is no free lunch--but we dumbass humans just keep wanting to believe that there is.
I just looked at Jazzlovers post and saw mine is quite similar, with just some variations.
My Grandfather worked the mines in Uravan, my Mom, Aunts, and Uncles were raised there. The long term dangers back in those days weren't really looked upon. They knew they possibly existed, but didn't think they would be so devastating. I have a sense that if there were still other jobs besides mining in the area, part of my family would still remain there. It is a beautiful part of the state, I haven't been back in many years though.
Last edited by mbalmedpoet; 08-10-2014 at 09:06 AM..
Reason: Jazzlovers post
I spent an entire summer camped out on BLM land on the San Miguel River about 20 miles up the canyon from Norwood. The San Miguel is still a relatively healthy river at that point and the region is very beautiful. There are also parts of the near-by Uncomphaghre Plateau that are just spectacular. Plus, anyone who ever bas the opportunity to drive the stretch of Highway 141 from Norwood to Whitewater, should jump at the chance. You won't regret it. The Dolores Canyon there is breaqth-taking. I've posted pix of the area in another post I made a couple of years back. I also lived in Nucla for about a year - it was different, I'll grant it that. The people remaining in Nucla/Naturita are desperate for work and would love to see another uranium operation come to the area. I hope the region finds a way to climb out its economic doldrums, but I hope it will be through something other than more uranium mining.
I know all of that country quite well. One should also note that the now booming resort of Moab was a center of uranium production back in the 50's and 60's. I am hesitant to judge some of the environmental scourges that occurred back in those days because many of the hazards--some of them quite extreme--were not fully known at the time, and, in some cases, really weren't known at all.
The lesson that should be learned from that, but isn't really being learned at all, is that almost any technological advance--no matter how wonderful it seems at the time--has a dark side that often is not recognized readily or quickly. For example, as "nifty" as solar photovoltaic cells may seem to many, there is not much said about the environmental damage being done to mine all of the rare earth minerals that are necessary for that technology to exist. We could find, someday, that the environmental costs of that eventually outweigh the benefits of the technology.
What I have learned over a pretty long life is that every technological advance also comes with some high costs--just like everything else in life, there is no free lunch--but we dumbass humans just keep wanting to believe that there is.
Rarely does this area of the state get discussed, I DO remember a two page thread on this forum regarding the Nucla/Naturita area back in 2008. It was called Nucla Nuclear. It didn't cover what Colorado Rambler has done here (great job CR!) it was just commentary how remote and depressed the area was/is.
Jazzlover is right here. I had a cousin and an uncle work at one of those mills in eastern Utah named the Atlas Uranium Mill. I often wonder with all the tourism that Moab sees and has seen over the last few decades if they actually knew about Moab's earliest beginnings. I'm guessing they don't.
Colorado's economy was pretty shaky during much of the 1980's and the oil shale pullout in May of 1982 started it all. The CF&I plant in Pueblo was going going gone shortly after that and Union Carbide's decision to shut down operations in Uravan came about a year and a half later. And like CR has stated as it was a company town the place was pretty much dismantled. The state of Colorado's highway signs of Uravan was pulled down in 199O if I remember right. And the remainder of the states economy was not good for the rest of the decade.
It took years, actually a decade and a half but Mesa County finally found their footing and pulled themselves out. Pueblo and Trinidad's economy rebounded but it took the same amount of time. The Naturita/Nucla area never recovered. If your employer closed up shop and left in 1985 you drew 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. And that's it. No UI extensions. You are talking an area that is basically two hours away from any sizable population center of a decent size; Montrose from the east, Grand Junction to the north, Cortez and Durango from the south, nothing to the west. In a years time the unemployment rate in Montrose County was double digits. And stayed that way for a decade, probably longer.
You won't find condos or townhouses here, or developments. And beings as these towns are in Montrose County you won't find much in the way of state or county buildings. These two towns have been at odds with Montrose for some time and they simply call themselves the "west end." They actually once upon a time wanted to secede from Montrose county and start there own county.
In the mid 90's Nucla got their 24 hours of fame, wanted or unwanted, when CNN sent their crews in to provide coverage for the "Nucla Prairie Dog Shoot." If truth be told I don't believe a lot of the townspeople gave two poop piles what anybody else thought of what they were promoting. Montrose County couldn't help them fiscally, and the State didn't do much either. I take that back, they didn't do anything. Those events did bring money to the county but that event was eventually scrapped in the late 90's (I believe). IMO this area had always been the butt of jokes with SW Colorado long time residents. And it started years before the Prairie Dog Shoot, as this area and the Uravan plant was tied in to the war effort in the 1940's, this area has always gotten short shrift, particularly from state government.
Like Jazzlover I know that end of the state and have stomped around it a time or two in my day. And I do respect CR's opinion about living in the Nucla area being "an experience." I knew some people who retired there in the 1970's, people I worked with in my commercial construction years in the 60's-90's. IMO Other long time residents look at out of towners with suspicion. As far as I'm concerned they have reason to.
The nicest building between the two towns? This will surprise you-the Naturita Town Library! A few years ago both towns passed a vote for funding on one. If you google in "NPR story on Naturita Public Library" a couple stories will pop up. The library was named "Best Small Town Library" for 2011, in fact Bill Gates donated $15,000 for this project.
I don't remember Uravan when it was an active mining town. However, I remember my first encounter with what was left of the town in the late 80's. As a child I spent school years with my mom in the McKinley County, NM area and summers with my dad on the ranch in Delta County, CO. This was after they split up so the meeting point to get me from one to the other was Cortez.
My dad and I liked taking backroads back to Delta County and I remember seeing Uravan after is was disassembled on one of those trips. We drove past the old townsite and I remember seeing some of the company houses sitting on the side of the highway, on cinder blocks, with for sale signs on them. You could buy one of those old houses and move it to your location for $3,000. It was kind of fascinating.
I don't remember Uravan when it was an active mining town. However, I remember my first encounter with what was left of the town in the late 80's. As a child I spent school years with my mom in the McKinley County, NM area and summers with my dad on the ranch in Delta County, CO. This was after they split up so the meeting point to get me from one to the other was Cortez.
My dad and I liked taking backroads back to Delta County and I remember seeing Uravan after is was disassembled on one of those trips. We drove past the old townsite and I remember seeing some of the company houses sitting on the side of the highway, on cinder blocks, with for sale signs on them. You could buy one of those old houses and move it to your location for $3,000. It was kind of fascinating.
The last time I was through there, heading up 141 towards Grand Junction, there were still some remains of houses that had been moved out of the town.
It's rather humbling to realize that a town of over 2,000 can be completely wiped off the map. There were tree lined streets where the kids used to play, a town hall, a store. I know it wasn't healthy, but my grandparents, mom and my uncles, all loved living there.
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In consequence
