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The success of the Manhattan Project sent demand for uranium skyrocketing, and enterprising prospectors went out West in search of an overnight fortune. But many were exposed to lethal radiation in the mines.
Armed with picks and shovels, the prospectors turned to the American West intent on finding deposits of the mineral that would make their fortunes. Their pursuit of wealth led to vast riches—and left ghost towns in its wake.
But the year wasn’t 1849, and the miners weren’t in search of gold. Instead, it was the 1950s, and they carried Geiger counters along with their shovels. They were part of the United States’ last big mineral rush—a forgotten race to find uranium deposits at the dawn of the nuclear age.
Uranium mining’s early days
Uranium hadn’t always been a hot commodity: When a prospector found a deposit of yellow rock in Montrose County, Colorado in 1881, radioactivity hadn’t even been discovered yet. Though uranium mines near the intersection of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, now known as the Uravan Mineral Belt, were active in the early 20th century, but production was low and mining was mostly focused on radium and vanadium, elements also found in carnotite ore that is used in steel production.
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