HISTORY: Uravan Camp 1939, Condensed by Marie Templeton and the Rimrocker Historical Society

Uravan is the Site of Mining, Milling Operations. This story was published for the second time on page 9, of the Colorado Prospector, no Date. The first time it was published was in the Montrose Enterprise on 8/25/1939.

Nestling in the San Miguel River canyon, where the sun sends down torrid rays in the summer months but evens up with welcome rays of worth in the wintertime, nestles a town built by men who envisioned a mining empire unique in its way in Colorado. It is the town of Uravan, site of the mining and milling operations of the U. S. Vanadium Corporation.

Almost all the mining activity in Montrose County is centered around Uravan. It is located 115 miles from Montrose, the county seat, but is 20 miles closer to Grand Junction, which acts as the mail terminus for the camp. 250 tons of vanadium ore a day was produced at Uravan in 1938.

To do this about 65 tons of coal are required a day. The coal is mined on property in the Nucla area and trucked to the mill and the power plant.

Salt is necessary in the refinement of vanadium, and the company owns and operates its own salt works. More than 500 tons, monthly, are taken from beds in the Paradox Valley.

The corporation operates the town. It furnishes power and electricity for its mercantile establishments, for the workers homes, the community-hall theater, hospital, churches and school and for the mill. This power can be generated from any, or all three types, of the plants maintained by the company; hydroelectric, diesel, and steam.

Uravan is the biggest little town in the United States with a population of about 700. Comfortable homes accommodate the 250 workmen and their families. The monthly payroll runs between $50,000 and $60,000.

This small town also provides the necessities of life to its inhabitants. Fuel comes from nearby coal mines in the Nucla section; vegetables and beef may be obtained in the Paradox Valley. Staples, however, are trucked from Montrose, Grand Junction and Placerville, the latter being the nearest railroad connection.

A score of trucks make up the transportation fleet operated by the company. Supplies are trucked in and refinded ore is trucked out. In order to facilitate transportation more than 40 miles of improved highway have been constructed. At the present time construction is being pushed on a road link to Highway 50.

The future of Uravan and the U. S. Vanadium Corporation is as bright as any industrial star in Colorado. The metal is being used as an alloy and its use is gaining steadily. As for the mines at Uravan, enough ore is being blocked out, or diamond-drilled to assure operations for a full century.

Blair Burwell, who directed erection of the mill and supervised building the town, is general manager of the corporation. He was promoted to the position from that of superintendent, a post now held by W. G. Haidane. Clarence Sterns is foreman of the plant, while Jerry Foster manages the mercantile businesses.

The corporation is said to own almost all the know vanadium claims in the district.