MYSTERIOUS AMERICA

Morton’s BMW Motorcycles presents Dr. Seymour O’Life’s MYSTERIOUS AMERICA

URANIUMIN NEW JERSEY? GOIN’ FISSIONALONGTHE RIVER!

If you were in need of a highly dangerous and radioactive ore – say uranium – where would you nd it? Which state in the union has the most uranium ore to be found?

Well, the answer is New Mexico.

But there is another “New” state that also had its hand in the uranium business – at least for a while.

New Jersey! Of, course. New Jersey.

Uranium was rst discovered in the Garden State in the mid-1950s and although exact numbers and the quality of Jersey uranium is still debated it is known that Exxon had leased thousands of New Jersey acreage in the hopes of mining the ore.

Tons of uranium were mined in this region. Tons!

At one point it was becoming such a great concern that on May 14, 1981, Governor Brendan Byrne signed into law a 7-year ban on mining uranium in New Jersey. They had to ban mining?

But, like most New Jersey tales – the story will take some twists and turns, and the road through this part of Mysterious America runs right through the state. But we’d have to go searching for it.

Along Route 29, just south of Frenchtown, New Jersey, in the region called Raven Rock, there is a small and obscure historical marker that simply states: Uranium Ore was found near here in 1956.

I just caught a glance of it as I was heading north on 29 on a late fall day, and a sign like that certainly will grab my attention.

It also alluded to the Cold War, but maybe it was just good ol’ greed that got the u3o8 ball rolling in the state? According to a report from the United States Geological Survey:

“An occurrence of uranium at Clinton, Hunterdon County, N. J. was rst brought to the attention of the U.S. Geological Survey when Mr. Thomas L. Eak of Avenel, NJ submitted to the Survey a sample containing 0.068 percent uranium. Subsequent examinations of the area around Clinton indicated that detailed mapping and study were warranted.

The uranium occurrences at Clinton are in or associated with fault zones in the Kittatinny limestone of Cambro-Ordovician age. The limestone is generally light gray, thick-

bedded, and dolomitic; chert is common but not abundant. Regionally and locally, faults are the most signi cant structural features. The local faults at Clinton are the loci for most of the uranium. The largest fault can be traced for about 700 feet and is radioactive everywhere it crops out. “

Everywhere it crops out? Well, that can’t be good. But it gets better… or worse.

Jefferson Township, home to the Picatinny Arsenal, was and is thought to have tons of the radioactive ore lining the old iron mines that butter y beneath the region.

Serious quality uranium. Right now… today!

Finding high-grade uranium on your property is better than striking gold.

A case in point came in the mid-70s when Jefferson resident Joseph Riggio received a letter from Pennzoil saying it had reason to believe there were “good amounts” of uranium on his property. Riggio reacted by getting in touch with Exxon, a Pennzoil rival. (Nice! I love Jersey mentality!)

Exxon reacted by drilling some test holes on Riggio’s land and two other tracts in the area. “The results,” said J. Wiley Bragg, a spokesman for Exxon Co. U.S.A., “were not discouraging.”

The town, that already had water pollution issues back then, wanted no part in uranium mining in their town. There was a town meeting in July of 1980 that had nearly 350 angry residents attending wearing yellow & black buttons stating “No Uranium Mining in Jefferson.”

Not far from Backroads Central there are two known uranium mines – the Charlotte Mine, and the Bemco Mine (Byram Exploration & Mining Co.), both near Cranberry Lake.

It seems that New Jersey has a serious radioactive past!

But, back at Raven Rock which, by the way, is the name of the U.S. Government’s not-so-secret hideaways in case of a nuclear issue with the

enemy of the day found just outside Gettysburg, the story gets better. According to a 1956 United Press report, brothers Alvin and Vernon Gatling claimed to have found a rich supply of the mineral element near Route 29, stating that samples from their 400-acre claim contained at least 2 % and as high as 7 % raw uranium. Their lawyer, a former federal prosecutor, said that the brothers were licensed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, which had con rmed the uranium content. These brothers were looking for a ‘Uranium Goldmine’ and had just enough brains to know that if there is iron, there is a great possibility of uranium. They convinced the owner of the property, Anton Schuck, to let them do some drilling. The brothers told Schuck that there was little uranium to be had, but then they snuck back in and began drilling an actual shaft without permission. The entire debacle ended up in courts – but the truth is there. The whole thing was nished for good in 1963 after the Gatlings led a suit against Schuck for damages and mineral rights. As a compromise, the brothers agreed to secure an expert who could con rm the presence of valuable uranium on the land, but they never followed through

New Jersey has a serious amount of uranium laced through the northwestern part of the state – so be careful when you pick up that oddlooking rock. It just might be a little hot.

Anyone for a slice of yellow cake? O’Life Out! ,