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Colorado's "Lost" Radium Boom: Early 20th Century Mining and Processing Landscapes on the Plateau and in Denver

By Stephen S. Hart and Eric Twitty

The rural historic landscape is one of the categories of property qualifying for listing in the National Register as a historic site or district. For the purposes of the National Register, a rural historic landscape is defined as a geographical area that historically has been used by people, or shaped or modified by human activity, occupancy, or intervention, and that possesses a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of areas of land use, vegetation, buildings and structures, roads and waterways, and natural features. Rural landscapes commonly reflect the day-to-day occupational activities of people engaged in traditional work such as mining, fishing, and various types of agriculture.1 National Park Service guidance for rural historic landscapes states that these landscapes may include:2 • Industry (including mining and milling) • Transportation systems The guidance also states that: Mining properties may include not only the most prominent mining structures, but also the communities shaped as a result of the mining activity and the surrounding land covered by related mining claims, and containing historic shafts, tunnels, pits, and tailings.

The Multiple Property Listing for uranium mining in Montrose and San Miguel Counties in far western Colorado, stated:3 Concise areas in western Montrose and San Miguel counties that experienced uranium mining certainly fit the definition. Groups of individual resources such as mines, millsites, and mining camps will constitute most uranium mining landscapes. The specific type of uranium mining landscape will then be defined by the dominant or most numerous resources. Also identified in the MPL were six Periods of Significance, based on the MPS Guidance. Only the first two Periods of Significance—1898-1905 and 1906-1923—are applicable to the Colorado Radium Boom. During these two periods, was mined in southwestern Colorado and processed in Denver primarily for its radium content because there were very few uses for uranium during the early 20th century (Tables 1 and 2).

The Origins of the Colorado Radium Boom In 1898, Mme. Marie Curie isolated radium from Austrian pitchblende ore. During that same year, samples of yellow ore sent from Montrose, Colorado, to France for analysis by French chemists. The ore was identified as radioactive and containing uranium and . The French named the ore "" after French Inspector of Mines Adolphe Carnot, brother of the French president. Research before the turn of the century indicated that radium could be used in the treatment of cancer.5 From 1898 to 1916, radium was used for cancer treatment, not military purposes. In 1900, the Rare Metals Mining and Milling Company opened offices at 3227 Champa Street in Denver and opened America's first uranium extraction plant near Naturita (Figure l).6 The company was succeeded by the Western Refining Company in 1903, the Dolores Refining

1 Company in 1904, and the American Rare Metals Company in 1908, but its success drew attention to the huge deposits of carnotite on the Colorado Plateau.

The Bureau of Mines Denver Experiment Station The second experiment station, after Pittsburgh, established by the U. S. Bureau of Mines was in Denver in 1910.7 Although the emphasis in Pittsburgh was on coal mine safety, the purpose of the Denver Station was the investigation of rare metals, including uranium, radium, vanadium, thorium, tungsten, molybdenum, nickel, and manganese. Included in this charter was research into the mining, concentration, extraction, and chemical problems associated with low- grade ores. This laboratory was first established in the Foster Building at 910 16th Street in downtown Denver, which was until recently owned by the University of Denver (the University Building).8 In early 1912, only two years after its establishment, the Denver Station determined that large quantities of carnotite and pitchblende, two ores of uranium and radium, were being exported to European countries for the extraction of radium. The Bureau of Mines was concerned with this exportation due to the discrepancy between the price paid for the carnotite ($80 per ton) and that for radium ($120,000 per gram). Also of concern was the small quantity of radium available in the known uranium reserves (1 part in 200 million) of the Colorado Plateau, the largest uranium deposit in the world at that time.9 If Joachimsthal, Austria, pitchblende supplies were cut off by a European war, the Bureau realized that American and western European radium demand could only be supplied through rapid development of the Colorado Plateau ores.10

The Radium Boom on the Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau contained most of the uranium and vanadium resources of the United States. However, due to lack of processing capability in the U.S., most of the carnotite produced from western Colorado between 1900 and 1912 was sent to Europe for the extraction of radium and vanadium from the ore. In addition, ore transportation by pack train and wagon over 60 miles of poor road that separated the mines and mills from the nearest rail head—the narrow- gauge Rio Grande Southern's depot at Placerville—nearly doubled the cost of the milled ore and considerably impacted the profitability of the carnotite industry during this period (Figure 2).11 During 1911, Standard Chemical Company of Pennsylvania acquired a large tract of the Club Ranch on the San Miguel River and built an experimental mill, a laboratory, a boardinghouse, and a small tent colony for workers (Figure 3). The company named the complex Joe Jr. Camp after the company president's son. When the mill confirmed an effective process, Standard moved quickly to build a full-scale facility at the camp. By the middle of 1914, the Standard Chemical Mill began treating local carnotite while encouraging mining outfits to send overflow ore directly to the refinery in Pennsylvania.12 However, for independent mining outfits, the impact of local mills was not as grand as expected. The reason was that the milling companies also had their own mines and treated the ore in-house. When Standard Chemical was building its experimental mills, they purchased around 300 claims, and, by 1913, the company amassed around 1,100 acres in Montrose County. Similarly, the Radium Company aggressively acquired mines to supply enough ore to keep its refinery busy. American Rare Metals owned several mines on Disappointment Creek, and the Schlesinger Radium Company bought the Rajah Mine on Roc Creek to supply its Denver refinery.13 Overall, the Federal Government's machinations, the Bureau of Mines' efforts, and the

2 advances made by the private sector brought the slow and steady growth into a small boom. Ore production almost doubled from 2,270 tons in 1913 to 4,300 tons during 1914, and nearly all of this came from the Paradox Valley area. The increase in both production and interest in radium and vanadium prompted records-keepers to state:14 The year 1914 was an eventful one in the industry of mining ores of radium, uranium, and vanadium, and showed by far the largest annual output yet made, amounting to 4,294 short tons of dry ore carrying 87.2 tons of uranium oxide, and 22.3 grams of metallic radium. When the U.S entered World War I, carnotite enjoyed a demand that was heavier than ever (Figure 4). This time, however, the roles of the metal constituents were reversed. In the past, companies produced carnotite for its radium and considered the vanadium as an afterthought. By 1917, the large companies refitted their mills to recover vanadium first and radium only as a byproduct. In so doing, the companies found carnotite to be highly profitable because the ore featured four times more vanadium than uranium. Repeating the pattern of the past carnotite excitements, the World War I boom provided opportunities for both large companies and independent parties.15

The National Radium Institute No federal government funds being available in 1913 for development of Colorado Plateau camotitie resources, the Bureau of Mines determined that a cooperative agreement with a private medical group could provide funding, while the Bureau could provide technical support. The organization formed through this agreement was called the National Radium Institute. On October 13, 1913, the Bureau of Mines approved the agreement with Dr. Howard Kelly of Baltimore and Dr. James Douglas of New York City to expend $150,000 by August 30, 1916, to form the National Radium Institute for the purposes of:16 1. Mining "camotite or other suitable ores, to an amount of 1000 tons, more or less, of high- grade (over 2 per cent)," 2. Establishing and operating "a plant for the working up of said ores," 3. Erecting and operating "a small concentration plant for the treatment of any low-grade ore," 4. Extracting at least "7 grams of anhydrous radium bromide from any 1,000 tons of camotite ore" for medical research." For a 15-percent royalty, the Crucible Steel Company agreed to lease the Institute 16 camotite claims in Long Park, located in the , 16 miles west of Naturita and 58 miles from the RGS railroad line at Placerville. In order to prevent hauling raw ore nearly 60 miles by wagon, a 10-ton per day concentrating mill was constructed at Long Park in 1915.17

During a year of operation, this mill produced 298 tons of 2.92% U308 for the Institute. Denver was selected as the location for the radium processing plant of the Institute and construction began during the "Big Snow" winter of 1913-1914 at 457 South Elati. Regular production of radium began in June 1914, with 100 tons of camotite ore purchased by the Institute from private suppliers. The original buildings of the Institute are shown in the foreground of Figure 5 (the radium-barium sulfate building-center with two windows-and the laboratory building—immediately right of center with steep roof-were still standing at the Robinson Brick and Tile plant at 500 South Santa Fe in Denver until the late 1980s—Figure 6- but were gone by 1999—Figure 7). The plant was so successful that an addition doubling of the

3 plant capacity, located directly behind the old plant in Figure 5, was completed on February 1, 1915.19 The National Radium Institute closed in January 1917 after having processed approximately 1,500 tons of "yellowcake" to produce 8.5 grams of radium at a cost of $38,000 per gram, one- third the then-current world price. Most of this ore was left at the site as fine-grained tailings with a U308 content of 2.3 percent, although both uranium and vanadium oxide were partially recovered and sold. The Elati Street processing plant was then sold to the Minerals Recovery Company,20 which continued to operate the plant until 1920. During 1917 and 1918, the plant processed 100 tons of low-grade and 6 tons of high-grade pitchblende ore from the Colorado-Gilpin Gold & Radium Mining Company using techniques developed by the Golden Station.21 The plant was scrapped and the processing equipment was moved by the Pittsburgh Radium Company in 1920. Commercial Processing of Radium In 1913, the Standard Chemical Company began producing radium at its plant in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, from carnotite mined in Colorado.23 By 1918, Standard had produced two-thirds of the U.S. production of radium,24 but none of this refining occurred in Denver. The demand for radium was, however, to expand rapidly during World War I, not for medical use, but for use in luminous dials on aircraft, naval vessels, and watches and for luminous sights on rifles.25 When mixed with zinc sulfide, the radium would glow in the dark, eliminating the need for lights that could give positions away to enemy observers. By 1918, such uses accounted for 95 percent of the radium being produced in the U.S. even with a price still as high as $115,000 per gram (Figure 4). These high prices attracted the interest of chemists and investors to the Denver area shortly after the selection of Denver for the site of the National Radium Institute in 1913. As in any boom, speculators and con artists also arrived to fleece the unsuspecting public. The failure of one such company, the Colorado Pitchblende Company, with offices in the same Foster Building that had housed the Bureau of Mines, indirectly caused the failure of a Denver bank in 1918.26 Before 1921, radium salts and radioactive byproducts were the "snake oil" cure for every ailment. In fact, radium was even considered a cur" for crop diseases. According to a 1918 magazine article27, "for several years one company has had upon the market low grade radium residues for use as fertilizer" which "appears to assist in the assimilation of phosphate and potash, and seems to fix the nitrogen." This company was apparently The Radio-Active Chemical Company, with offices at 1523 18th Street in downtown Denver in 1919 and 1920. The city directory advertised the company as "Mfrs. of radium products and soil stimulant that increases crops." The spread of radioactive materials through its use as fertilizer is unknown, but such materials were certainly used in citrus orchards and on other farms in California, Canada, and France in spite of warnings by the Department of Agriculture.28 About 1914, Henry Koenig and W.A. Schlesinger, two university professors who met at the Radioactive Laboratories at Princeton University, formed the Schlesinger Radium Company in Denver. The company's many claims in the Uravan Belt included the Maggie C, which produced more radium than any other single orebody in the U.S.29 It also operated a radium processing plant in the old plant of the Denver Wire Mills Company. By 1918, the company had changed its name to the Radium Company of Colorado and opened a subsidiary, the Cold Light Manufacturing Company, with a plant at 2001 East Colfax. The subsidiary manufactured thousands of luminous dials for military use during World War I.30

4 In 1919, the company absorbed the Carnotite Reduction Company of Chicago and in 1920 merged with the Tungsten Products Company of Boulder.31 After 1919, the Radium Company of Colorado also jointly used the "Radium Building" at 1429 18th Street with the building's owner, Metals Exploration Company, the firm that built the first uranium-vanadium mill in Durango.32 In 1924, after designing the radium refinery in Belgium that ended the American radium boom, Radium Company of Colorado ceased operation.33

The Golden Experiment Station In July 1916, the Bureau of Mines Denver Station moved to Golden in order to promote "close relations and general cooperation in mining, ore dressing, and metallurgical research" in rare metals.34 The school transferred use of its Physics Building (now called the Engineering Hall) to the Bureau of Mines for the four-year period of the agreement. The first floor of the 1894 two-story brick building was used for offices and a library. The basement was used for grinding ores and for semi-commercial treatment of ores in 10- to 500-pound batches. The second floor contained two chemical laboratories, including the "radium emanation" room. 35 Radium emanation was the original name for radon gas, which was first isolated in this lab. In July 1920, the cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Mines and CSM expired. The Rare and Precious Metals Experiment Station was then moved into a new, $40,000, two- story brick building adjacent to the Mackay School of Mines on the campus of the University of Nevada in Reno.36 Although the station remained in Reno for many years, radium research was moved to Washington, D.C., in 192437 and transferred to the Fixed Nitrogen Research 38 Laboratories of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1925. Bust and Cleanup The end of the Colorado Radium Boom came in 1923. Rich ore from the Belgian Congo ended Colorado's radium industry when prices dropped from $2 million per ounce to less than 1/4 of that value.39 The Radium Boom became "lost" to history for nearly 60 years until an alert geologist at EPA in Las Vegas, Nevada, called the Colorado Department of Health in 1979 to ask the location of the "National Radium Institute" that he had read about in a 1916 U.S. Bureau of Mines publication.40 The Director of the Radiation Control Division admitted that he had never heard of the Institute and had no idea where it was located. EPA then borrowed a helicopter equipped with radiation sensors from the U.S. Department of Energy in Las Vegas and flew a grid over the Denver area. When more than 30 "hot spots" were located, primarily along north- south railroad lines bordering the South Platte River, the media jumped on the story. EPA used the new Superfund law to designate the hot spots as the "Denver Radium Superfund Site."41 The last of the hot spots was not completely remediated until 2006, more than 25 years after that 1979 rediscovery. The designation and cleanup of the Denver Radium Superfund Site had required as much time to complete as the original Radium Boom lasted. In addition to the cleanup of the Denver radium processing sites, several mill sites associated with the Radium Boom were remediated. The successor to Standard Chemical Company's Joe Jr. mill at Uravan was cleaned up under EPA's Superfund program by its owner, UMETCO. All buildings at the town of Uravan are now gone, including two 1912 buildings that were listed on the State Register of Historic Places from 1994 until they were burned down in 2007. Two uranium mills at Slick Rock, built on the sites of early Radium Boom mills, were cleaned up under DOE's Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Program. The UMTRA

5 program was initiated to clean up uranium mills that had been active during the Manhattan Project of World War II and the Atomic Energy Commission-inspired "Uranium Boom" of the 1950s. Therefore, the "Lost" Radium Boom on the Colorado Plateau and in Denver was the precursor to the Atomic Age! Finally, the Bureau of Land Management and the State of Colorado reclaimed a number of Radium Boom-era uranium mines. However, unlike EPA's Superfund program and DOE's UMTRA program that demolished most contaminated buildings, these two agencies have been cognizant of the historic value of mines and other Radium Boom-related structures. The Montrose-San Miguel County MPL report developed, in part, from concern that few cultural features from those first two periods of significance remain in the Uravan Mineral Belt.42

Contributing Resources Remaining radium-boom era contributing resources for rural historic landscape designation under NRHP Criterion A43 include both mining- and transportation-related resources, as follows: Mining-related resources:44 • Prospects • Mines • Mill sites • Buildings/foundations • Related structures • Settlements Transportation-related resources: • Rio Grande Southern Railway structures, grades, equipment • Wagon & stage roads and bridges • Pack trails • Aerial tramways Some examples of remaining contributing structures may be seen in Figures 8-11. Many more can be found in the Montrose-San Miguel County Uranium MPL.45

Conclusion and Recommendation Colorado's Radium Boom lasted for only 25 years, from 1898 to 1923. The subsequent vanadium and uranium "booms" reused many of the same southwestern Colorado mines and mill sites. The Denver radium processing sites were recycled for non-radioactive purposes after 1923. After 1979, the post-Three Mile Island uranium "bust" prompted widespread government agency remediation and reclamation of rural mines, mills and mill sites, and urban processing- refining sites. Today, little remains from the Radium Boom Era except a rural historic landscape containing a few contributing resources. However, although 90 years have passed since the end of the Radium Boom, historic land uses of this landscape are still limited to radium, vanadium, and uranium mining, grazing, and recreation. Ironically, this is due more to the remote location of

6 the Uravan Mineral Belt and lack of both population and other resources than to any conscious attempt at historic preservation. If anything of historic value related the Radium Boom is to survive for future generations, federal and state agencies need to be aware of radium's role in medical, scientific, military, and Western U.S. history. If preservation of even a portion of the Radium Boom historic rural landscape could be accomplished by BLM, History Colorado, Montrose County, and other interested parties, Long Park and Uravan might be logical historic landscapes for telling the Radium Boom story to visitors. Long Park was important to the National Radium Institute and its commercial successors during the early days of the boom. And the Joe Jr. Mill (Uravan) processed nearly half of all radium ore during the boom. Both are located near Naturita; CO 141, the highway to the new resort at Gateway; and CO 90, the shortest route from Telluride, Colorado to Moab, . In addition, the number of remaining contributing structures and sites in Long Park may exceed those in most other relatively small portions of the Uravan Mineral Belt. Improvements to Long Park Road (Road EE22) might be required, but perhaps a Montrose County loop could be designated as a "Radium Boom Scenic Byway." Long Park historic structures, the Hieroglyphic Canyon petroglyphs, the Uravan townsite, the historic Black Bridge (a steel through-truss over the San Miguel River north of Uravan), and the road (VI1), with its sheer walls and Hanging Flume remnants, might add to visitor enjoyment along such a byway. Visitors driving from Long Park could elect to leave the Byway at Uravan, continuing to Gateway or Naturita via CO 141. They could also loop back to Naturita via VI1 and CO 90 or turn west from VI1 onto CO 90 and head through the Paradox Valley to Moab. Because many Moab-bound tourists coming from Telluride, Montrose, Cortez, and Durango travel in SUVs, a gravel road should not be a significant obstacle to someone truly interested in a part of Colorado history not covered in most history textbooks—America's first "radioactive boom," a 25-year event that occurred almost entirely within Colorado.

Endnotes

1 McClelland, Linda Flint; Keller, J. Timothy; Keller, Genevieve P.; Mclnick, Robert Z. National Register Bulletin: Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Rural Historic Landscapes. National Park Service, 1999 rev. (1989), p. 1-2. 2 McClelland and others, 1999, p. 3. 3 Twitty, Eric. Guide to Assessing Historic Radium, Uranium and Vanadium Mining Resources in Montrose and San Miguel Counties, Colorado - Multiple Property Listing. NPS Form 10- 900-b/OMB No. 1024-0018, 2008, p. 234. 4 Twitty, 2008, p. 132. 5 Moore, R.B., and Kithil, K.L. "A preliminary report on uranium, radium, and vanadium." U.S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 70, 1914, p. 58-61. 6 Colo. Metal Mining Bd., Colorado vanadium: a composite study: State of Colorado Metal Mining Fund Board, Denver, 1961, p. 76-85. McKee, T. M., "Early Discovery of Uranium Ore in Colorado," Colorado Magazine XXXIJ, no. 3 (July 1955), p. 192; Deets, Lee, "Paradox Valley-Historical Interpretation," Colorado Magazine XI, no. 5 (Sept. 1934), p. 194. 7 Manning, V.H. "Experiment stations of the Bureau of Mines." U.S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 175, 1919, p. 54. 8 Keeney, R.M. "Radium in 1918." Colorado School of Mines Magazine, v. 9, n. 8, 1918, p. 251.

7 9 Moore and Kithil, 1914, p. 5-6 and 42. 10 Moore and Kithil, 1914, p. 63. 11 Kithil, K.L., and Davis, J.A. "Mining and concentration of carnotite ore." 17.5. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 103, 1917, p. 46-47 and 78-79. 12 Twitty, 2008, p. 34. 13 Twitty, 2008, p. 35. 14 Mineral Resources, 1914, p. 943. 15 Twitty, 2008, p. 39. 16 Parsons, C.L., Moore, R.B., Lind, S.C., and Schaefer, O.C. "Extraction and recovery of radium, uranium and vanadium from carnotite." U.S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 104, 1916, p. 9. 17 Kithil and Davis, 1917, p. 72-74. 18 Parsons and others, 1916, Plate I. 19 Parsons and others, 1916, p.34. 20 Bureau of Mines. "Radium and uranium." U.S. Bureau of Mines Tenth Annual Rept., 1920, p. 53. 21 Manning, 1919, p. 58-59. 22 Bruyn, Kathleen. Uranium Country. Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 1955, p. 100. 23 Colo. Metal Mining Bd., 1961, p. 76-85; Deets, 1934, p. 194. 24Keeney, 1918, p. 249-251. 25 Manning, 1919, p. 59-60. 26 Hess, F.L. "Uranium, radium, and vanadium." 17.5. Geological Survey Mineral Resources of the U.S., 1920, p. 415. 27Keeney, 1918, p. 251. 28 Landa, E.R. "The first nuclear industry." Scientific American, Nov. 1983, p. 180-193. 29 Bruyn, 1955, p. 69. 30Keeney, 1918, p. 249-251. 31 Hess, F.L., 1920, p. 415; Hess, F.L. "Uranium, radium, and vanadium." U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources of the U.S., 1921, p. 225. 32 Bruyn, 1955, p. 68. 33 Bruyn, 1955, p. 70. 34 Manning, 1919, p. 56. 35 Colorado School of Mines. "Radium element is sent from Golden." Colorado School of Mines Magazine, v. 7, n. 4, 1917, p. 60. 36 Bureau of Mines. "Radium." U.S. Bureau of Mines Eleventh Annual Rept., 1921, p. 48 & 91. 37 Bureau of Mines. "Reno station." U.S. Bureau of Mines Fourteenth Annual Rept., 1924, p. 47. 38 Bureau of Mines. "Radium." 17.5. Bureau of Mines Fifteenth Annual Rept., 1925, p. 54. 39 Moore and Kithil, 1914, p. 62; Bruyn, 1955, p.70-71. 40 Hazle, A.J. Statement before Colorado General Assembly. 1979. 41 Hart, Stephen S. "The Denver Radium Boom and the Colorado School of Mines." Mines Magazine, February 1986, p. 8. 42 Twitty, 2008, p. 2. 43 McClelland and others, 1999, p. 13. 44 Twitty, 2008, Table of Contents. 44" r Twitty , 2008, volume 2.

8 Table 1. Uravan Mineral Belt Radium Mining, Milling, and Refining Companies

Owner Operated: Operating Location Facilities, Properties American Rare 1911-1921 Slick Rock Various mines, Dolores Metals Co. Refining Co. Arden M. Wilson 1911-1919 Bull Canyon, Club Mesa, Cliff Mine, other mines Placerville Carnotite Products 1921 Mesa, Montrose, San Miguel Various mines, plant in Denver Co. (merged w/ Counties, Denver Radium Products) Carnotite Reduction 1915-1920 Gateway, Placerville Various mines, plant in Co. (merged w/ Chicago Tungsten Products) Chemical Products 1918-1921 Slick Rock, Denver Various mines, plant in Denver Co. Colorado Carnotite 1912-1920 Long Park, Disappointment Creek Various mines Co. Crucible Steel Co. 1910-1917 Long Park, Paradox Valley Mines—leased to NRI, then sold to Radium Co. of Colorado General Vanadium 1909-1912 Paradox Valley Various mines Co. International 1912 Montrose and San Miguel Various mines Vanadium Co. Counties Pittsburgh Radium 1918 Long Park, Denver Yellow Jacket; plant in Denver Co. Radium Co. of 1915-1924 Bitter Creek, Carpenter Flats, Florence, Great Western, Henry Colorado (was Eagle Canyon, Hydraulic, Long Cly, Maggie C, Rajah and other Schlesinger Radium) Park, Paradox Valley, Red Canon, mines, Bitter Creek and Hart Roc Creek, Denver Group; plant in Denver Radium Luminous 1914-1921 Long Park Doctor, Cripple Creek, Co. (reorganized as Honeymoon, Phonograph U.S. Radium Co.) mines; plant in New Jersey Radium Ores Co. 1916-1919 Club Mesa Cliff Mine and Cliff Mill Radium Ore 1918-1922 Montrose Rare metals sampler Sampling Co. Radium Products 1918-1921 Paradox Valley, Denver Various mines; Denver plant Co. Schlesinger Radium 1914-1917 Roc Creek, Denver Rajah Mine, plant in Denver Co. Standard Chemical 1911-1922 Club Mesa, Coke Ovens, Long Joe Jr. Mill, plant in Co. of Pennsylvania Park Canonsburg, PA Tungsten Products 1918-1921 Gateway, Boulder Various mines, plant in Boulder Co. W.I. Cummins Paradox Valley Various mines Chemical Co. United States 1921-1923 Long Park Was Radium Luminous Co. Radium Co.

9 Table 2. Colorado Radium Mills & Refining Plants, 1899-1923

Owner Name Type Operated: Location Ore Type Carnotite Products Merged w/ Concentration 1921 Denver Carnotite Co. Radium Prod. & refining Chemical Products Chemical Concentration 1918-1921 Denver Carnotite Co. Products Plant & refining Hammer Radium Hammer Radium Concentration unknown Denver Carnotite Co. Plant & refining National Radium National Radium Concentration 1914-1916 Long Park Carnotite Institute. Mill National Radium Refining 1914-1916 Denver Mill Plant concentrates Radio-Active Radio-Active Packaging, 1919-1920 Denver Tailings from Chemical Co. Chem. Co. Plant retailing refining Radium Co. of RCC Plant Concentration 1915-1922 Denver Carnotite Colorado & refining Radium Extraction REC Plant Concentration unknown Denver Carnotite Compounds Corp. & refining Radium Ores Trump Mill Concentration 1916-1918 Long Park Carnotite Co. Radium Products Radium Products Concentration 1918-1921 Denver Carnotite Co. Plant & refining Rare Metals Rare Metals Experimental 1899-1903 La Salle Creek Carnotite Mining & Milling Experimental concentration & Dolores Co. Mill River Rare Metals Mill Concentration 1900-1903 Camp Snyder, Carnotite Western Refining 1903-1904 Slick Rock Co. Dolores Refin, Co. 1904-1909 Rare Metals Co. 1909-1922 Rocky Mountain Radium Plant Concentration 1918-1923 Denver Carnotite Radium Prodcuts & refining Schlesinger Schlesinger Plant Concentration 1914-1917 Denver Carnotite Radium Co. & refining Shattuck Chemical Shattuck Plant Refining 1918-1922 Denver Carnotite Co. Standard Chemical Test mill Experimental 1910-1912 Coke Ovens Carnotite Co. of PA concentration (East Paradox) Joe Jr. Mill Concentration 1912-1914 Joe Jr. Camp Camotite (Uravan) 1914-1923 Joe Jr. Camp Carnotite for (Uravan), Club radium & Mesa vanadium Steel Alloys Co. Steel Alloys Concentration 1920-1922 Denver Carnotite Plant & refining Utah-Colorado Utah-Colorado Concentration unknown Denver Carnotite Mining & Milling Plant & refining

10 Figure 1. Uravan Mineral Belt—Site of the 1898-1922 Radium Boom

INDEX MAP I

UTAH COLORADO

A NOV 0 5 199?

NO*HW*a«rraw' cotofwoo school or

EXPLANATION

/// '•//

~'t -MCrfi5';h fofmCl'Sfli

|

UfO'Ofi nvntrol b*!t

15 MILES Egnor / SAN MIGUEL CO DOLORES CO

11 Figure 2. Standard Chemical Co. narrow-gauge tank car at Placerville, CO

Figure 3. Standard Chemical Co. Joe Jr. mill (left) and boarding house (right) at Uravan, CO about 1918 (Source: Denver Public Library, CHS.X5634.)

12 Figure 4. Colorado Carnotite Production—1906-1921 (1914 peak for medical use, 1918 peak for military use)

VALUE OF CARNOTITE MIMED IN COLORADO

$3,000,000

$2,600,000

$2,000,000 / \

$1,600,000 X / 11,603,900 V

$GO0, D00

so *T *D f.. <» c o

Figure 5. National Radium Institute in Denver in 1916 (note 2 small buildings in center, source: Parsons, and others, 1916, Plate I)

1«5*flr*-f

13 Figure 6. Robinson Brick & Tile (former National Radium Institute site) in 1982 (note same 2 small buildings in center as in Figure 5; photo by Stephen Hart) Figure 8. Stope/workings of Tramp No. 1 Mine in Long Park (photo by Eric Twitty) Figure 10. Radium Luminous Co. cabins still stand at their Long Park headquarters (photo

Figure 11. Cistern remaining at the site of the NRI Long Park Mill (photo by Eric Twitty)

16