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Show Charles A. Steen’s life. If he had been working for a mining company, none of what subsequently happened at the Big Indian would have occurred. A mining company would have kept the news of a discovery secret while it blanket staked the entire district. As it happened, more than 2 miles of the north end and about 5 miles of the south end of the mineralized belt remained open until the first months of 1953. In the frenzied rush to the Big Indian that followed the realization that something extraordinary was happening south of La Sal, Utah, a handful of venturesome individuals -seized the opportunity to strike it rich. As a result of the ensuing stampede of claim stakers, most of the ore deposits on the north end of the Lisbon Valley anticline ended up being staked by more than one locator. And, after the prospectors sold their claims, grabbed their millions and left the district to the mining companies that were better able to exploit these deeper ore bodies, most of these uranium deposits were mined by several companies. ; About four months after the Mi Vida'mine began to bury the AEC’s ore buying station at Thompson in uranium ore, my father realized that he had to do something to quicken the pace of exploration on his claims. The only drilling rig available was a core rig that seemed to take an eternity to reach the ore horizon when it had to drill through the full thickness of the Wingate and Chinle formation. When his then partners, Bob Barrett and Dan O'Laurie, resisted his plans to buy a modern Mayhew rotary drilling rig, Charlie Steen hit on the idea of raising money by selling an interest in some of the claims he hadn't contributed to Utex. . In the frenzied rush to the Big Indian that followed the realization that something extraordinary was happening south of La Sal, Utah, a handful of venturesome individuals seized the opportunity to strike it rich. After forming a company he named Big Indian Mines, Dad conveyed six of his claims to this new entity and headed down to Texas to raise enough money to explore these properties. When he came back he brought along his brother-in-law, Albert Hrbacek (pronounced Herrbacheck) and a brand new Mayhew rotary rig. My father and uncle (who was an experienced oil well driller) formed a partnership they called Moab Drilling Company. This Mayhew drilling rig completely revolutionized the way uranium was explored for on the Colorado Plateau. Rotary rigs could drill deeper than 1,000 feet in less time than a core rig could drill 100 feet. Before the Boom tapered off, Moab Drilling Company was operating five Mayhew rigs around the clock. Its crews were able to drill a 25,000-foot contract in 30 days. The price per foot fell from $20 to $4 once the rotary rigs took over. Other companies followed Charlie Steen's example, and at one time all but 4 of the 21 drilling rigs active in the Big Indian district were Mayhew rotaries. Charlie Mayhew became a multimillionaire and a good friend of Charlie Steen. And thousands of strangesounding, whiskey-drinking, hard-working, harder-partying roughnecks from Oklahoma and Texas joined the invasion of outsiders who made the po Boom the biggest rush oie 1595 N. HIGHWAY 191 Back SERVING DINNER NIGHTLY (435) 259-5201 STATE LIQUOR LICENSEE www.bucksagrillhouse.com ~ E Mail Your Feedback Comments: : for riches einee the Klondike Stampede. 4 We prefer email comments to Feedback because we don't have to re-type them. So EMAIL your letters and save someone from developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Dan Hayes and Charlie Steen were good friends by the time the Mi Vida mine began producing in December of 1952. Hayes was a native of southeastern Utah and very familiar with the prospects and mines of the region. In the spring of 1948, while exploring the Lisbon Valley area, Hayes discovered the sparsely mineralized uranium outcrops in the Cutler formation that later caught my Dad's attention. Dan Hayes and two partners staked nearly a mile and half of claims along the rim, and began mining limited quantities of lowgrade ore. Needing money to develop his claims, Hayes turned to Donald T. Adams, a Z ephyr@ Monticello, Utah lawyer he had known for years. Adams bought out Hayes' partners and M ARK ° moci.net AU S THIN advanced money to develop the Big Buck claim group in partnership with his cousin, Joe Adams, and Eddie Saul. Hayes and his new partners were unable to interest the AEC in drilling their property, and they were doing just enough work to maintain their claims is standing behind this acid-etched when Charlie Steen appeared on the scene. 9 _Don Adams was an honest attorney and an upright family man; and Dan Hayes was a practical, amiable man whose word was his bond. Hayes watched the developments at the Mi Vida mine, and Adams handled the legal affairs of the partnership in Monticello. Charlie Steen couldn't have asked for better neighbors. On June 24, 1953, Adams and Hayes leased the two Big Buck claims closest to the Mi Vida mine to Wilfred Brunke, an experience uranium mine operator. My father welcomed Brunke back to the Big Indian. He recalled that Brunke had bulldozed the four miles of rough road onto his claims last summer. Charlie Steen enjoyed reminding Wilfred Brunke that Brunke had repeatedly warned him during every opportunity along every mile of bulldozing that there was no uranium back of the rim and he was throwing good money away. With Dad's approval, Brunke began driving a 150-foot decline headed back towards the rim from the Mi Vida claim. Brunke blasted into ore bearing Moss Back at the bottom of -the decline, and the Big Buck became the second mine in production on the anticline. Although uranium ore had been encountered at the bottom of the Brunke decline, nobody knew how far the ore would extend in any direction. The only plan was to mine until they ran Out of ore. This was the same old-fashioned method that uranium miners had been using since the early radium days. But things were about to change. For some time, Charlie Steen had wanted to get into a mining deal with his old partner, Bill McCormick. Together they approached Hayes and Adams about buying the Big Buck claim group. Although my father was optimistic about the possibility that the Mi Vida ore body extended onto his neighbors’ property; he had no way of knowing how much ore could be found under the Big Bucks. It was a calculated gamble, but the odds looked ver good. : : : Two years earlier, $10,000 would have bought the Big Bucks; a year earlier $50,000 would have been enough; now Adams and Hayes wanted $2 million. No uranium mine on the Colorado Plateau had ever sold for that much money. Bill McCormick deferred the decision to Charlie Steen. This time my father was able to stake his old partner; and_on December 1, 1953 (Dad's thirty-fourth birthday) the Big Bucks were optioned for $50,000. Under the terms of the option, the sellers were to receive $450,000 on August 1, 1954, and $500,000 per year for three years. The deal gave the two partners eight months to raise the : CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE... : metal Pp anel door...WHY: No I'm not... 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