Western Montrose County's uranium years left a real legacy at Uravan

Far to the west of the city of Montrose, out in the canyon country along the San Miguel River, sits one of the West’s most distinctive chapters: the uranium town of Uravan. Its very name comes from uranium and vanadium, the two metals pulled from the local ore, and it gave the surrounding “Uravan mineral belt” its identity.

For much of the 1900s this corner of Montrose County was a major source of those metals, including during the atomic age, and the work built a full company town with jobs, families, and a real community. Mining that ore also left behind radioactive mill wastes, so the area was later named an EPA Superfund site. Over a number of years, crews carried out a thorough cleanup of the wastes, soil, and groundwater, and the town itself was removed as part of that work.

It is a serious and very human story, with real effects on the land, the water, and the people who lived and worked here, and it is worth approaching with curiosity and respect. The remediation is a well-documented success, and for anyone exploring or settling the far west end of the county, it is simply good to know which lands carry that cleanup history.

To learn the story accurately, rely on official sources: the EPA for the cleanup and current status, and History Colorado for the human and regional history.