Historical Details

Radium Hill at Lusk is Still Much Talked Of

Courtesy of The Lusk Herald-Standard, 02/19/1925

The following article, taken from the Norfolk (Nebr.) Daily News, goes to show that interest in the radium hill west of town is still alive and many Lusk people  have not lost their faith that this very hill is going to mean much to Lusk in the not-too-distant future.  Following is the article:

"Not every town has a million dollar hill right at its back door. Lusk, Niobrara County, Wyoming, has. At least experts who should know, have been saying so for more than five years.

The value of this hill is estimated by the many tests made of its contents, which show beyond a reasonable doubt that it contains many times more radium than is now available in the whole world, and this is a mighty big hill, composed largely of radium producing rock, it may be true.

There is a mystery surrounding Radium hill that none of the natives is able to fathom. Five years ago, the mine, which is at the summit, was in operation, and radium ore in quantities was being shipped to Colorado where a modern process was used to separate the pure radium from the rock. It is known that radium was actually produced in paying quantities. All of a sudden operations ceased and the mine was closed. It was rumored that there was some misunderstanding over title for ownership and since that time the mine has been under guard.

In the year 1921 the owners tried to promote a stock company with a capitalization of $15,000 for the purpose of building what would be called a radium Sanitarium. the first plan was to build this sanitarium five miles from Lusk, and use only private capital. It was proposed later to erect it at the foot of Radium hill, if the required amount of stock was subscribed. About this time the financial horizon showed signs of storm and the project failed.

Now that the government has become sufficiently interested in Radium Hill to investigate reasons why so valuable a mine is idle, there is renewed interest  among Lusk's citizens. The general opinion seems to be that as soon as the officials making the investigation are fully convinced that Radium Hill is really what it has been rated, they will take a hand in bringing about a settlement of the difficulties that have so long tied up the mine, and Lusk will some day benefit from this million dollar hill behind which, each evening, the sun goes down an hour before it sets." 

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