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

02 Sufc^.fW) Colorado's "Lost" Radium Boom: Early 20th Century Mining and Processing Landscapes on the Colorado 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, uranium ore 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 vanadium. The French named the ore "carnotite" 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 Paradox Basin, 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.

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