It is believed that coke from this oven was used by blacksmiths during the construction of the Hanging Flume. The seven-mile flume and associated ditches delivered 80 million gallons of water per day from the San Miguel River to operate mining equipment at the Lone Tree Placer site. Even though the site was only 40 feet above the Dolores River , the technology was not yet available to pump the water directly from the river at the necessary volume and pressure to wash the gold from the gravel. 81.4 - San. To the west is the confluence of the San Miguel and Dolores rivers.
Paradox is a farming and ranching community.
It was named because the Dolores River runs north and south through the valley rather than the usual east and west, a Paradox that occurs in only one other valley in the world. 75.7 - Uravan Uravan, named for the uranium and vanadium processed from carnotite ore, was established in 1936 as a company town and mill site for U.S. Vanadium Corporation, a subsidiary of Union Carbon and Carbide Corporation. From the 1930s to the mid '40s the mill produced vanadium used to harden steel in war armaments. Uranium was recovered from the mill tailings during the early 1940s and was used in the first atomic bombs. Production of uranium and vanadium continued until 1984 when the mill closed.