Charles Steen

Charles Augustus Steen
Born	(1919-12-01) 1 December 1919 Caddo, Stephens County, Texas, U.S.
Died	1 January 2006(2006-01-01) (aged 86) Loveland, Colorado, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Geologist, uranium prospector
Known for	Discovery of a substantial uranium deposit in Utah (Mi Vida mine)

Charles Augustus Steen (December 1, 1919 – January 1, 2006) was a geologist renowned for his discovery of a substantial uranium deposit in Utah during the uranium rush of the early 1950s, which led to both his rise and fall in fortune.

Early years

Steen was born in 1919 in Caddo, Stephens County, Texas and completed his high school education in Houston. During his teenage years, he spent summers working for a construction firm that helped fund his schooling; notably, his first stepfather Lisle had died while employed there. He initially enrolled at John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville, Texas, where he met his future wife Minnie Lee Holland. In 1940, he transferred to the College of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Texas, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in geology in 1943.

Due to poor eyesight, Steen was exempt from military service during World War II and instead worked as a petroleum geologist in the Amazon Basin spanning Bolivia and Peru. After returning to Texas in 1945, he married Minnie Lee ("M.L.") and began graduate studies at the University of Chicago. However, after one year, he left academia to join Standard Oil Company of Indiana. His tenure lasted less than two years before dismissal for insubordination, after which he faced difficulties securing further geology positions.

The uranium boom

During a period of unemployment, Steen came across an article in the December 1949 edition of The Engineering and Mining Journal detailing U.S. government incentives for uranium exploration. The Atomic Energy Act empowered the United States Atomic Energy Commission to withdraw land for uranium mining assessments. At that time, uranium sources were mainly from Canada and the Belgian Congo during World War II, with some coming from vanadium miners in the American Southwest. The United States aimed to establish domestic uranium production to support its nuclear weapons program.

Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission functioned as the exclusive legal purchaser of uranium within the U.S., regulating prices to stimulate prospecting activities primarily across the Four Corners area.

Despite having three young sons under four years old and a wife expecting another child, Steen secured a $1,000 loan from his mother to begin prospecting on the Colorado Plateau. After spending several months exploring in Colorado, his family relocated to a tarpaper shack in Cisco, Utah. Financial hardship and health challenges ensued—his wife developed pneumonia resulting in expensive medical care—prompting Steen to briefly move his family to Tucson, Arizona, where he worked as a carpenter before returning to focus on his mining claims.

Lacking funds for conventional Geiger counters, Steen utilized a used diamond drill rig combined with his geological knowledge. While many prospectors held diverse views on uranium deposit locations, Steen concentrated on anticline structures similar to oil traps—a strategy others mocked as "Steen's Folly." At that time, the uranium sector mostly consisted of individual prospectors or geologists who either extracted ore themselves or sold claims to corporations like Union Carbide, which processed raw ore into yellowcake.

Mi Vida uranium deposit

On July 6, 1952, Charles Steen uncovered a substantial high-grade uranium deposit at Big Indian Wash in Lisbon Valley, located southeast of Moab, Utah (). Initially unaware of its significance, he recognized the discovery weeks later when a core sample set off a Geiger counter. This site, called the "Mi Vida" mine ("My Life"), emerged as one of the most important uranium deposits discovered in the 20th century and triggered a "Uranium Rush" across the Four Corners area, reminiscent of the California Gold Rush.

Following his discovery, Steen formed multiple enterprises including Utex Exploration Company, Moab Drilling Company, Mi Vida Company, Big Indian Mines, Inc., and Uranium Reduction Company. Through these ventures, he accumulated substantial wealth and constructed a $250,000 mansion in Moab equipped with features such as a swimming pool and greenhouse; this estate now houses The Sunset Grill restaurant. Known for his extravagant lifestyle, Steen organized annual celebrations for local residents and made significant charitable gifts, including a $50,000 donation toward a new hospital and land grants for churches and schools.

Political involvement

In 1958, Steen was elected to the Utah State Senate as a member of the Republican Party but soon grew disenchanted with political life. He resigned in 1961 and relocated to a ranch near Reno, Nevada, where he built a 27,000-square-foot mansion close to Comstock millionaire Sandy Bowers. In 1962, he divested from Utex Exploration Company and Uranium Reduction Company.

After the uranium rush

By the end of the 1950s, demand from the US government for uranium diminished sharply, leading to the withdrawal of support for elevated ore prices and causing the market to collapse by 1960. Steen attempted to diversify his interests into Arabian horse breeding, marble quarrying, aircraft manufacturing, pickle production, and real estate but encountered financial setbacks. In 1968, he declared bankruptcy after the IRS seized his assets due to unpaid taxes. In 1971, he sustained a serious head injury while working on a copper prospect.

Death

Steen battled Alzheimer's disease for many years before passing away on January 1, 2006, in Loveland, Colorado. His wife Minnie Lee died in 1997. Their ashes were scattered at the Mi Vida mine location.

Legacy

Steen's legacy endures through his four sons who inherited what was once a $130 million fortune that ultimately dissipated following the uranium market crash. Although most of his wealth was lost due to poor financial decisions, Steen is credited with providing uranium essential to the US nuclear weapons program during the Cold War. His Mi Vida discovery inspired numerous films and books and helped establish Moab, Utah’s reputation as "The Uranium Capital of the World" and "Richest Town in America." Notably, Steen obtained congressional authorization to construct his own privately financed mill—the only significant atomic facility built without government funding.

On November 4, 2016, a historical marker honoring Lisbon Valley’s uranium legacy and Steen’s discovery was unveiled near U.S. 191. Privately funded by donations, artist Michael Ford Dunton designed an arch framing both the marker and views of the Mi Vida mine located seven miles east.

See also

• Moab uranium mill tailings pile
• Uranium mining in Utah

External links

• Steen: A legend in his own time
• Biography of National Mining Hall of Fame Inductee
• Moab Historical Museum