2 MI S OF CANON CY
The Cotter Corporation Uranium Mill in Cañon City started producing uranium oxide, or yellowcake, at the mill in 1958. In addition to producing yellowcake, the mill produced both vanadium and molybdenum as by-products. The mill was originally licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission, but the authority for licensing was transferred to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in 1968. During the operation (1958 to 1979) of the former alkaline leach mill at the site, tailings were discharged into unlined impoundments, now known as the old ponds area. Sand Creek flows from the mill area north towards the residential area named Lincoln Park. A flood event in June 1965 caused the unlined impoundments in the old ponds area to overflow into Sand Creek. In 1972, a flood control dam was completed by the Soil Conservation Service on Sand Creek, approximately 0.8 miles north and downstream of the mill area. Since the dam’s completion, surface runoff and spring flow which emerge up-gradient of the dam have been impounded at the dam, and since 1979 this impounded water has been pumped back to the primary impoundment. The Lincoln Park site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in 1984. The Superfund listing includes Cotter's 2,600 acre uranium mill and areas where contamination occurred. Historic releases to the environment were found to affect surface soils and groundwater in neighboring Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park is a semi-rural community located two miles south of Cañon City, about 1.5 miles north of Cotter's property. Many of the residents have gardens and orchards and some raise livestock. The mill is in the Sand Creek drainage, which flows through Lincoln Park to the Arkansas River.
377 |
People living within a 1 mile radius |
$52,087 |
Average Income |
151 |
Occupied homes |
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