 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2011) |
Uravan, Colorado | |
|---|---|
 The reclaimed Uravan townsite (at the base of sandstone outcrop) as it appeared in 2008 | |
  Uravan  Uravan | |
| Coordinates: 38°22′06″N 108°44′11″W / 38.36833°N 108.73639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Colorado |
| County | Montrose |
| Elevation | 4,990 ft (1,520 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 0 |
| Time zone | UTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-6 (MDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 203153[1] |
Uravan (a contraction of uranium/vanadium[2]) is a former uranium mining town[3] in western Montrose County, Colorado, United States, which still appears on some maps. The town was a company town established by U. S. Vanadium Corporation in 1936 to extract the rich vanadium ore in the region. As a byproduct of vanadium extraction, small amounts of uranium were also produced, at the time mostly used as a yellow pigment for ceramics.
The town was located approximately 90 miles (140 km) south-southwest of Grand Junction along the San Miguel River. At one time, over 800 people lived in Uravan, and the town housed a school, a trading center (store), medical facilities, tennis courts, a recreation center, and a pool. The school and some other facilities remained operational until at least 1983; however, Uravan was shut down by mid-1985, and no traces of its former buildings remain. Uravan is now an uninhabited, undeveloped Superfund site.
- ^ "Uravan". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. October 13, 1978. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- ^ Dawson, John Frank. Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin. Denver, CO: The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co. p. 50.
- ^ "Uravan". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved February 17, 2011.