Jeffrey City

Jeffrey City (HM19LU)

Location: Jeffrey City, WY 82310 Fremont County
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Country: United States of America
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N 42° 29.711', W 107° 49.868'

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Biggest Bust of Them All

Home on the range, a tiny community consisting of a post office, gas station, and a few souls, sat quiet and undisturbed along this lonesome stretch of highway until the 1950's. That all changed when the nation's uranium industry boomed after World War II.
???  In the early 1950s, prospectors started combing Wyoming's hills for surefire riches. Then, in 1954 prospector Robert (Bob) Adams discovered uranium. He founded the Lost Creek Oil and Uranium Company, purchased property next to Home on the Range and built a company town, naming it Jeffrey City after Dr. C.W. Jeffrey of Rawlins, his biggest financial backer. Adams renamed his company Western Nuclear, Inc. and later sold to Phelps-Dodge, a mining conglomerate, during the industry's slowdown in the 1960s. With the next uranium boom in the 1970s, Phelps-Dodge added employees and built housing, streets, and parks; Jeffrey City bustled. In 1980, with nearby uranium mines in full swing, over 4,000 people called Jeffrey City home. The school had almost 600 students, and the area's uranium industry employed nearly 1,000 workers. The town's existence revolved around the uranium industry.
???  Then came the bust in the early 1980s - and when uranium busted, Jeffrey City faded away. By 1982 only 1,000 people remained. The uranium market dipped lower and nearly everyone left town. Homes were wheeled away, and families left in droves. Today the population is less than 100, and Jeffrey City is quiet once again, though the vacant streets still whisper of the thousands who once lived and played here.
Details
HM NumberHM19LU
Tags
Placed ByWyoming Historic Mine Trail and Byway System
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Sunday, September 14th, 2014 at 11:21am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)13T E 267350 N 4708642
Decimal Degrees42.49518333, -107.83113333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 42° 29.711', W 107° 49.868'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds42° 29' 42.66" N, 107° 49' 52.08" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)307
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 2323 Sweetwater Blvd, Jeffrey City WY 82310, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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