Standard Chemical Co./ Placerville, CO (pics/ link)

All the discussion on the "fruit box car" at the Standard Chemical Co. siding at Vanadium led me to search for more information. Here are several photos from Oak Ridge Associated Universities of product/ loading of carnotite ore for the Standard Chemical Co. According to the linked history of SCCo. the company’s mines were mainly in the Paradox Valley in the southwest corner of Colorado in Montrose County. There, carnotite, a mineral containing vanadium, uranium, and radium, was mined, hand-sorted, and bagged in 75-pound sacks. High grade ore was shipped directly to the railhead. Lower grade ore was shipped to a concentrator erected some ten to forty miles distant from the mines. Sub-grade ore and waste rock was discarded. The ore was bagged as shown and transported to the RGS station at Placerville, CO in wagons and/ or trucks where it was loaded into boxcars for the trip to the SCCo. Canonsburg, PA processing plant where the radium was extracted. At the time (circa 1920), radium cost between $100,000 and $120,000 per gram, by weight more costly than the Hope Diamond. Note also what looks like a Case steam tractor on the flat which makes an interesting load for us modelers...

Rod

Canonsburg/ SCCo. History

ORAU Photo Album