Ancient soil layers known as paleosols appearing as horizontal colored bands can be seen in the distance of the badlands topography in Petrified National Forest.
It was the Petrified Forest area comprising eight properties of ore grade material that produced the most uranium for market.
Early prospecting was undertaken by geologist Harry Clifford Granger with a Geiger counter in 1951, with positive findings inside the southern boundary of the Petrified Forest National Monument. Identified was a small low-grade uranium deposit among multi-colored shales. Uranium minerals were found in sandstones with a high concentration of carbonaceous plant material, notably petrified logs.
Uranium mining occurred around the Twin Buttes area. The Ruth Mine was the largest uranium producer, having been located by Preston Coston and Hugh Barton in 1952 and christened for Barton’s wife Ruth. Production began in 1953 with 642 tons of ore shipped from the Ruth No. 4 claim.
The following year, the Moab Uranium Co. served as the contractor, shipping 364 tons of ore from the Ruth No. 1 claim for processing at the Anaconda Co. Mill at Bluewater, New Mexico.
It was also the site of mineral theft involving former employees of the Flyers Mining Co. who stole 9 tons of ore from the Bay Shore’s pit on the Section 33 claim and over-staked the nearby Kay and Goof claims.
Polycrystalline potash, with a U.S. penny for scale.
The ore was shipped to the Atomic Energy Commission ore buying station at the Cutter siding east of Globe, an anomaly as most of the ore mined in the area by 1956 was shipped to a uranium processing mill at Shiprock, New Mexico, operated by Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, Inc.
