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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1955)
A-Ore Hunt Termed Biggest Mining Boom of Century . I :" '; il Statesman saitrVort.; Sunday, Aug H, T955-c. 2-S f Weeks Defends Ike Administration ! (Editor's Note: The biggest min ing bMia ( the 20th century U a orinium hunt involving eawbays and housewives as well as rtrpor atiaas. Here's the tory f a search ' which buit ga broke, a 'few strike it rich, and the nation's wet fare aad evei (arrival may de pead) j ! By GORDON G. GAUSS GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. m At the airport of this city of 30.000 there is a lineup of private planes which has come to be known as Uranium Row. ' The glistening craft are the mark of success in a search for radio active ore which has grown into the biggest mining boom of theg for the; big mining firms. A 20th century. j ' . miner gets about $2 an hour, or. a A year or so ago you could pick i lUtle more. ; A mucker's pay is out the boys who'd made hsir j from $1.75 tip. stake by their high ; powered auto- j Despite all these drawbacks, how mobiles. Today it's the private ; ever, and in the face of countless plane. Tomorrow the sky itself may be the limit. For the government guarantees the price of uranium, and production is spiraling stead ily upward. A three-story building here has i been taken over by the Uranium i Ore Producers Assn., an organiza . tion of independents, and been re ' modeled into a "uranium center." Men who used to sweat out burn j ing days on the desert now com i plain because the air conditioning j wasn't completed on schedule, i Uranium Club j I j At the Uranium Club Restaurant, miners dine on platter sized steaks I and laugh about the days they had .to exist on "buckskin" another word for deer shot out of season. There are enough such fortunates to make a big splash in this unof ficial capital of uraniumland. But there number is small indeed in comparison to the number of Amer icans "who have been touched by uranium fever. This is one of the most contagious afflictions in the nation today. i s Thousands of persons, ranging from tenderfoot city: explorers to grizzled . veteran prospectors, are searching for uranium in the moun tains and deserts from South Da kota to California, Numbers Jump ' The number appears to be in- " creasing despite some indications that the lone operator may have about had his day in the uranium business. Many observers feel that the big corporations are starting to take over the industry. v For example. Lew Williams, who las made his first million and now beads a mining company, opines that "the big fish are cornering the little ones." j Kim Theobold, secretary of the Uranium Ore Producers Assn.. agrees that things ! are getting tougher all the time for the fellow who heads into the desert with his geiger counter and dreams of a lucky strike. j Period of Mergers j Sheldon t Wimpfen. the Atomic Energy Commission's i top man on the Colorado Plateau-4-now the na tion's busiest uranium hunting ground concedes that: this is a pe riod of mergers, even though he feels there's still room for the small operator. Wimpfen's ; encourage- hw BHManM ho anan na anHnnn hbh ar DOORS OPEN 9:30 A.M. ; ' f- . ! OF PIECE GOODS Tremendous Reductions!!! All! Better Fabrics!!! Two Big Groups j j GROUP NO. 1 yds. Over 500 Yds. of Better Cottons, Rayons, Nylons . . . Every Piece Drastically Reduced For Fast Action GROUP NO. 2 yds. Over 500 Yds. Rayons, Nylons, ment of small timers is tempered with words, of caution. Living conditions are harsh on the plateau a forbidding 120,000 square mile area radiating out of the four corners area where Colo rado, Utah, New Mexico and Ariz ona meet, j The mountains and deserts can be graveyards, winter or summer. Water is often scarce. And even a small time uranium search is bound to run into money. Some of the most promising areas are impossible of exploration except through the 'use of such expensive equipment as the helicopter. Pay Law '; Prospectors who run out of mon- i ev can't erwrt tn ppi rirh wnrlr. misfortunes,! the number of ama- teurs engaged in the hunt contin ues to rise. And some of them are still making strikes. There is the case of Mrs. Mu riel Gould, a young housewife with two children; who spent long days prospecting : while her husband worked the family ranch and saw mill All last; summer and fall, she searched the vicinity of their home, near the continental divide in Colo rado, i Finally, Mrs. Gould staked eight ' claims, each1 the regulation 600 by 1.500 feet Now, although litigation i still surrounds the property, she's getting a four figure check every month from a conditional sale. This amount may look small if the title is cleared. j Dream of Fortune The dream; of such a fortune af-' fects not only the prospector who ' takes to the hills, but countless oth er persons who are confined to the farm or office. This fact is attest- j ed to by the number of people who j have invested in uranium stocks, often at the poor man's price of a penny or a dime per share. Some of these stock ventures are perfectly legitimate. Too often, how ever, they have been the work of sharp operators who take advan tage of uranium mania by selling "shares" in non-existent or pure ly speculative mines. New Roles To protect the public against such operators, the Securities and Ex change Commission has set up a new series of rules dealing with small stock issue. Industry spokesmen have been particularly concerned over the so called penny; stocks because the fear the public reaction might ham string the industry when there is a legitimate need for new capital. The continued expansion of the industry is a matter of importance not only to the individuals in volved; it could mean progress and perhaps even survival for the na tion in the atomic age. That Js why the government has guaranteed prices ranging upward from $1.50 a pound and pledged to purchase all ore containing as much as two pounds or uranium oxide per ton. How much uranium is the nation now producing? Figures Secret Total figures are a defense sec ret, but Colorado's commissioner of El SUMMER for for of Better Dacrons, Orlons, Silks . . . Be mm mines announced a year ago that the annual value of uranium to the state exceeded all the gold, silver, lead, zinc and copper ever pro duced in a single year. Back in 1900 the output of these metals topped 50 million dollars. Could the present output sustain a major war effort if outside sup plies were cut off? "I simply don't know,' said Wimpfen, manager of the AECs Grand Junction raw materials of fice. "I donbt if anybody outside the armed forces could answer that if he would." The refining process has hamp ered the industry in the past, but the AEC hopes that new milling facilities will ease the bottleneck. Nine mills, all expanded from their original size, now are in operation. Three are under constructon. Sev en more are being negotiated with PlSMlEY Hj - t'- 44 s FOR EXQUISITE TEXTURE that bestows on air of luxury to your home ... see Dacrons now ot Penney's! For a bargain curtain that goes from season to season, from tubbing to tubbing, and stays lively and fresh-looking . . . see Dacrons! For Easy Cora that saves time and trouble . . . See Dacrons! Their filmy texture makes them os easy to launder os your daintiest lingerie. And if you take the simple 'measure of not wringing them, or crumpling them when you wash, you'll have to look hard to find a wrinkle that needs ironing out. These Dacron priscilfos are styled with 6" headed ruffles, finished off with rolled edge, jpre-shirred tops. They're back-hemmed, come with ruffled tiebacks, complete with boned rings. . L BASEMENT private industry, which runs all ex cept some pilot plants. Rate Increases The milling rate now is three times that of three years ago, and Wimpfen predicts it will be five times the 1952 rate by the end of this year. i Ore was dug in 1.054 mines last year, AEC figures show, and bon uses paid for production from new properties developed during the boom approximate 5 Vi million dol lars. The bonuses are mounting weekly. New , finds are reported from Washington State to Texas and from California to South Dakota, although many are yet to be prov en commercially profitable. By far the heaviest production still comes from the four corners area. AEC figures show that 24 com panies, some of ; them operating m () iii . it i ff ieer several mines, turned out 77 per cent of the nation's ore during fis cal 1954. "A growing number of the nation's biggest and best known in dustrial enterprises moved into the field as big operators. Some observers consider the in flux of such name companies to be a sign that the uranium industry is growing up and becoming more stable, i !' Rash Cantinnes ' Despite this apparent trend, how ever, countless small timers con tinue to rush in, occasionally striking it rich but much more often ; winding up broke or in tragic, even comic, circumstances. For example, . one tenderfoot raced 1 into the local ; AEC office sure that he had uncovered a bonanza. The area didn't look right, but experts checked. j They found their geiger counters clicked wild ly, all right but the reaction came 1 m Vr -X 1 .Briscillas from dust blown -off passing ore trucks. Well remembered, too, is the couple who pulled up before the Uranium Ore Producer's Assn., in a shiny new car and demanded: "tell us where to locate our claims. We've got two days." . The touring prospector who wants to trade his spare tire for gaso line to get home is an old story to filling station operators in this area Many county officials are con cerned over the prospect of broke prospectors swelling relief and wel fare rolls. Ranchers have watched the in vasion of stock territory with mounting irritation. Colorado once required 10-foot discovery cuts for the staking of claims on public land.' The cuts aren't required any more, but they're still dug oc casionally. Often they have formed graves for cattle or sheep. MODERN MAGIC! Conjured out of the ever experimenting test tubes of DuPont comes Dacron ... a new fibre creating a new curtain that has just about everything you could ask for! sSiSII..:.- 42"x8T PANELS Featured at 1.22 Hard-to-Muss! Wrinkle-Shedding! Easy-to-Wash by Hand! it Little or No Ironing! Quick Drying! it Mildew-Resistant! j Safe From Insects! -A: Shrink-Free! Fabulously Resistant to Deterioration From Sun, Gas, Fumes! ! Sheer as Spun Sugar! In Purest Ivory White! 94"xl" 96"x45" 96"x54" 96"x63" WASHINGTON Wl Secretary of Commerce Weeks said Thursday that "people who don't believe in what this administration believes in" have launched a massive at tack on the free enterprise system. He wouldn't say who these peo ple are. but he specifically defend ed his Business Advisory Council which has come under attack from Rep. Celler (D-NY), chairman of the House J antimonopoly subcom mittee. Weeks said he didn't want to in dulge in personalities or politics, when asked to clarify his charge. "If the shoe fits anyone, let him put it on," the secretary suggested at a news conference. Celler said earlier Thursday he will subpoena 'everybody in sight," if necessary, to penetrate what he called the "aura of sec recy" around the Business Advis ory Council. On being told of Weeks' news conference remarks, Ml: 1447x8r 180"x81" . 270"xBYg i Celler said the secretary was talk ing "palpable nonsense.'' : The antimonopoly committee has just recessed until October, its investigation of the government role of WOCs, or businessmen who serve ' as advisers without compensation, while drawing sal aries from private firms. Leader's Name ! Difficult to Say! i MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay m The head of the only Swiss-style government in the Western Hemis phere, President Luis Batalle Ber res, is expected to encounter some name rouunciaiion trouble on his visit to Washington Dec. 5-7. His name sounds loo-ees bah-ya bah-r-faas He is head of the 9-man National Council that serves as the executive power in Uruguay. il l I 5s V' 7 X Here Early for this Group, 1 . i MEZZANINE