Uranium City airport, red sky
Photo Credit: ©Harold Grasley
Uranium City Weather:
17.06°C
Humidity: 72%
Conditions: overcast clouds
Feels Like: 16.70°C
Latest Posts:
Welcome to the Uranium City History website, covering past and present.
Uranium City is located in the northernmost corner of Saskatchewan. Originally a Cold War town, Uranium City came to life in the early 1950s, rapidly growing to more than a dozen mines, some with townsites for their own, and reached a population of nearly 10,000. By the 1960s, Canadian uranium could no longer be used for military purposes, and Uranium City supplied ore Canada’s Candu Reactor, then just beginning to come online.
The sudden closure of its last mine, the mammoth Beaverlodge Mine owned and run by Eldorado Nuclear, in 1982, saw the towns’s population plunge from 4000 to less than 400. Since then Uranium City has survived as, variously, a regional hub, the site of ongoing exploration, and mine reclamation. Tourism also supplies some visitors who come to fish in the many lakes, hunt in season, and generally enjoy some of the most spectacular landscape in Canada, if not the world. Depending on the time of year, 50 – 80 residents remain.
This site is dedicated to the history and present of Uranium City and area, and history of the Canadian North generally. For a general Uranium City history, please visit our About Page.
Latest Posts
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Wildfires Burning Across Saskatchewan, Air Quality Warnings in Fond Du Lac and Uranium City
19 wildfires burning around Saskatchewan as of Saturday, May 27. Five not contained, 10 undergoing assessment, three are being watched to protect valuable equipment in the area. Air quality alerts are in effect across the province, including Fond-du-Lac, Stony Rapids and Uranium City.
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Goin’ Back to UC
by Vince Kreiser – young resident from 1958-62 All images @copyright Vince Kreiser Our family moved to Uranium City in 1958. As with many other people, our trip “up north” involved flying into the area on a DC-3 airplane. My father Jack Kreiser was the first Principal and one of the teachers at the new […]
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Del Trobak’s Photographs Of Rix-Athabsca Mine and Uranium City 57-60
click on any image to open lightbox These photographs come from Del Trobak. Most are included in his piece on living in Uranium City and working at the Rix Athabasca Mine from 1957 to 1960, but I couldn’t fit in all of them due to space. @copyright Del Trobak.
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Shooting Our Way Back Home
We circled Uranium City three times before landing, alternating two cameras between myself, David Segerts and Ole Gjerstad, a director and producer from Montreal. Dave, whose mother, stepfather and half-brother still lived in town, hadn’t been back in seven years and his face veered between elation and perplexity as he described seeing the town […]
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McIntyre Powder Project
From 1943 to approximately 1979, miners in gold and uranium mines were ‘treated’ before their shift with something called ‘McIntyre Powder aluminum powder’. Apparently miners at the Beaverlodge Mine were among those treated. From the website: The McIntyre Powder Project is a voluntary registry to document health issues (particularly neurological) in miners or other workers who […]
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Dr. Colin Dafoe, Dogsled Doctor
All photos from the collection of Brian Jeffrey Street, courtesy of the Dafoe family. TPW_ExcerptsDownload A few weeks ago, I received an email from Jeffrey Street, a writer based in Ottawa, offering to send me a chapter from his book ‘The Parachute Ward‘. Doctor Colin Scott Dafoe is best known for working with Josip Tito’s […]
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Manpower Adjustment Report, circa 1982
What a title. Again, courtesy of Brian Howell. Incredible amount of information on both – this report is 109 pages long and contains abbreviated histories of the Eldorado Company, Beaverlodge, and Uranium City as well as breakdowns of everything from the costs to ‘Reaction To Closure’ to compensation to the minutes of the Manpower Committee. […]
Latest Places
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Gunnar Mines Part 1
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Goldfields: The First Boom Town
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Sun Dogs and Yellowcake, Extract from Chapter 8:
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My Memories of Rix Athabasca Mines and Uranium City 1957 – ’60
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Dr. Colin Dafoe, Dogsled Doctor
Latest Photos
Hi Chuck, I wauld have ridden your Dad’s busses many times, going back and forth to Eldorado. I think my…
My Father Charlie somers owned the UC bus lines. I was born in the hospital 1959. I have many fond…
I worked in Uranium City from 1966 to 1971 and I knew Enda and I met him again in Avoca…
Hi Ernie, Thanks! The video in this post went missing, I put it back. I didn’t make this – came…
Excellent story Del. It was very interesting to read. Thanks also for including he various photos. For the old UC…