University of Nevada, Reno "You Could Bomb it into Oblivion and Never Notice the Difference": An Archaeological Research Design for Nevada's Uranium Mining Industry, 1951-1968. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology By Jonah S. Blustain Dr. Sarah Cowie/Thesis Advisor May 2013 i ABSTRACT An often-overlooked metal in the history of Nevada mining, uranium has had a significant impact on our industrial landscape. Because the majority of Nevada’s uranium production infrastructure has not yet reached the 50 year mark for significance under the National Register of Historic Places’ (NRHP) guidelines, uranium mining and prospecting has not been extensively studied by historians or archaeologists. As such, very few of these important resources have been documented archaeologically. Nevertheless, the remains of Nevada’s uranium mining industry are significant parts of our collective history. My research addresses this oversight by first providing a contextual framework for the archaeological investigation of the state’s historic uranium mining resources. Data recovered from these investigations can be used to evaluate the recorded resources for eligibility to the NRHP. Finally, this thesis theorizes the creation of the Nevada Uranium Mining District which would serve to manage the state’s myriad of cultural resources related to the uranium mining boom of 1951 to 1968. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….1 1.1 PROJECT AREA………………………………………………….…………..…….3 1.2 ARCHIVAL RESEARCH METHODS……………………………….………………..6 1.3 AGENCY JURISDICTION AND PROTOCOLS……………………………………….7 1.4 THESIS OUTLINE………………………………………………………………….8 2.0 HISTORIC CONTEXT………………………………….………………………9 2.1 THE GEOLOGY OF URANIUM………………..…………………………………..10 2.2 URANIUM IN A GEOPOLITICAL CONTEXT………………………………………12 2.2.1 Radioactivity and Early Applications................................…...……………….12 2.2.2 The Beginnings of Weaponization………………………….………………….14 2.2.3 World War II and the Manhattan Project..………………………….…….…15 2.2.4 The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 and the Atomic Energy Commission...........16 2.2.5 The 1954 Atomic Energy Act..............................................................................19 2.2.6 The Private Ownership of Special Nuclear Materials Act of 1964..................21 2.2.7 The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974............................................................23 2.3 “THE A-BOMB CAPITAL OF THE WEST”: URANIUM MINING IN NEVADA .........23 2.3.1 The Vanadium Rush ...........................................................................................24 2.3.2 AEC Monosophy..................................................................................................24 2.3.3 The “Uraniumaire”: Uranium Mining as a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme ...........28 2.3.4 Uranium Prospecting ..........................................................................................31 2.3.5 Uranium Mining .................................................................................................38 2.3.6 Uranium Milling .................................................................................................44 2.3.7 Some Mine the Ore, and Others Mine the Miners: Uranium Mining Scams......47 2.3.8 The Hidden Danger of Uranium Mining ..........................................................49 2.4 THE END OF AN ERA ............................................................................................50 3.0 RESOURCE IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS METHODS .................51 3.1 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SIGNATURE OF URANIUM MINING............................51 3.2 PHASE I: RESEARCH DESIGN ...............................................................................55 3.2.1 Government Records ..........................................................................................56 3.2.2 Geology and Cartography ..................................................................................58 3.2.3 Technical and Professional Sources ..................................................................58 3.2.4 Avocational and Lay Sources .............................................................................59 3.2.5 Previous Cultural Resource Surveys in the Area .............................................60 3.3 PHASE II: FROM HISTORIC THEMES TO DIRECTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................62 iii 3.3.1 The Anthropology of Technology ......................................................................62 3.3.2 Sociotechnical Systems .......................................................................................64 3.3.3 Questions for Further Research ......................................................................65 3.4 PHASE III: RECORDATION AND DATA RECOVERY ..............................................69 3.4.1 Beginning Documentation.............................................................................69 3.4.2 Standing Architectural Resources .....................................................................71 3.4.3 Excavation ...........................................................................................................73 3.4.4 Curation ...............................................................................................................75 3.4.5 Safety Concerns ...................................................................................................75 3.5 PHASE IV: EVALUATION ......................................................................................77 4.0 RESOURCE EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS ................78 4.1 RESOURCE EVALUATION ....................................................................................78 4.1.1 Significance Criteria ...........................................................................................79 4.1.2 Criteria Considerations ......................................................................................80 4.1.3 Integrity ...............................................................................................................82 4.2 THE PATH TO A MANAGEMENT UNIT ..................................................................87 4.3 PROPOSED MANAGEMENT UNIT – THE NEVADA URANIUM MINING DISTRICT (NUMD) ...............................................................................................................88 4.3.1 Period of Significance .........................................................................................89 4.3.2 NUMD Boundary ................................................................................................89 4.3.3 The Significance of the NUMD ..........................................................................90 4.3.4 Contributing and Non-contributing Elements of the NUMD .........................91 4.3.5 Isolated Finds ......................................................................................................94 4.4 SITES RECOMMENDED NOT ELIGIBLE AND NOT CONTRIBUTING ......................95 4.5 MANAGEMENT OF SITES RECOMMENDED ELIGIBLE AND/OR CONTRIBUTING ....95 4.5.1 Sites Eligible and/or Contributing Under Criterion A ....................................96 4.5.2 Sites Eligible and/or Contributing Under Criterion B ....................................96 4.5.3 Sites Eligible and/or Contributing Under Criterion C ....................................96 4.5.4 Sites Eligible and/or Contributing Under Criterion D ....................................97 4.6 SITES REMAINING UNEVALUATED .......................................................................97 5.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................................................99 5.1 NEVADA’S URANIUM MINING INDUSTRY ..........................................................100 5.2 THE NUMD ........................................................................................................101 5.3 FUTURE WORK ...................................................................................................102 5.3.1 A Complete Class I Survey of Recorded Uranium Mining Loci ..................103 5.3.2 A State-Wide Multiple Property Documentation ..........................................104 5.3.3 Public Outreach and Interpretation ................................................................105 iv 5.4 CONCLUSION: THE SYMBOLISM OF ATOMIC CULTURAL RESOURCES ............107 6.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................108 v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Production and workings information for Nevada’s uranium mines.................44 Table 3.1 The material culture considered diagnostic of uranium prospecting and mining................................................................................................................55 vi FIGURE LIST Figure 2.1: All known deposits of uranium and all known uranium mines in Nevada.....11 Figure 2.2: An AEC comic slowing a successful uranium miner taking his ores to a purchasing depot in hopes of a substantial production bonus................................25 Figure 2.3: An AEC cartoon showing men from multiple backgrounds and socioeconomic classes becoming uranium prospectors ........................................26 Figure 2.4: An instructor of the Nevada Uranium School shows a prospector the proper use of a Geiger counter ..............................................................................28