Yellowcake Towns: Uranium Mining Communities in the American West (Mining the American West) [Hardcover]

Michael A. Amundson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002 | Series: Mining the American West

Provides the first detailed analysis of the four mining and milling communities at the center of the twentieth century uranium booms: Moab, Utah; Grants, New Mexico; Uraven, Colorado; and Jeffrey City, Wyoming.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael A. Amundson is an assistant professor of history at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Colorado (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870816624
• ISBN-13: 978-0870816628
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 3.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,531,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great history of uranium mining in the West, March 15, 2007

By 

Jessie Vosti (Taos, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yellowcake Towns - Uranium Mining Communities in the American West (Mining the American West) (Paperback)

Amundson, being an historian by training, has written a fascinating tale of uranium hardrock mining in the west...mostly concentrated on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. Amundson takes you through the discovery and processing of uranium from the early days, meaning from the late 1800s through the cold war and the shutdown of the major mining centers.

Yellowcake Towns, the title of the book, refers to the processing centers which converted uranium ore into uranium oxide which is known as yellowcake from its color. This is what was then sent to special processing centers for conversion into fissionable material. The mining centers discussed are Uravan in Colorado which was a company town now closed and being cleansed of radioactive contamination. Jeffrey City, Wyoming, another company town which also has been abandoned. Then there is Moab, Utah, which was a major uranium processing center but has survived into present day as a tourist center because of its spectacular redrock landscape. Uranium mining in Grants, NM, which was considered the uranium capital of the USA because of its four processing mills,is also discussed and, again, Grants also survives due to the western film industry and tourism.

Reading Yellowcake Towns, though, is slow going if one reads all the footnotes, too. I found the bibliography to be just as engrossing as the actual writing. It's a great read....takes you through the early years when radium was king; then in the years leading up to WWII, the tailings were reprocessed for vanadium to strengthen steel; and finally reproccessing the tailings a third time for uranium extraction to support the making of the first atomic bombs; and, following WWII, the uranium craze to fuel atomic energy plants and even more sophisticated weapons of war until finally, the entire industry collapses.

A great read which few people outside of the industry know about.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A First Class Book on America's Uranium Boom, February 11, 2008

By 

AKS "AKS" (Seville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yellowcake Towns - Uranium Mining Communities in the American West (Mining the American West) (Paperback)

Yellowcake Towns depicts the great American Uranium Boom with style and gusto. It is one of the best modern books on the subject and an important tome for anyone interested in the history of the Western United States.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read During The Current Uranium Mining Boom, March 21, 2008

By 

John Dixon (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yellowcake Towns - Uranium Mining Communities in the American West (Mining the American West) (Paperback)

Because of record prices for uranium, there is currently underway a boom in applications for uranium mining in the western United States. At this time (March 2008), there are 10,000 applications for permits to mine uranium on file in Colorado alone - more in other western states. The history of uranium mining in this country is abysmal at best and possibly criminal. There has been little regard by the mining industry for the health and safety of people affected by the mining. This book details the horrors that resulted from uranium mining close to Navajo communities. This book is a must-read for anyone living within 100 miles of proposed uranium mining and wanting the facts to fight irresponsible plans for mining which ignore human health and safety and are motivated solely by greed. Read this book, organize and take action to protect your families, your communities, and your environment.