Real story behind 'North America's Chernobyl' that turned Wyoming city into a ghost town
It's not just Japan with Hiroshima or Russia with Chernobyl that have been ravaged by nuclear incidents, and in the United States, there are numerous 'atomic cities' that have been left to return to the Earth. Similar to the former gold rush towns that are largely left abandoned, the same can be said for uranium ghost towns.
While uranium was once a low-value mineral, it soon became a must-have commodity in the aftermath of the Manhattan Project and us shuffling into the Cold War. Prices of uranium soared overnight, and with it, atomic cities started to flourish.
Sadly, nothing lasts forever, as more and more American ghost towns appear.
Like so many boomtowns, the moment an industry collapses tends to see the population dwindle and residents flee from these typically remote areas of the desert.
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During the uranium boom of the 20th Century, Jeffrey City, Wyoming, saw its fortunes flourish.
Founded in 1931 as a single homestead built by an Alaskan couple called the Petersons. Mr. Peterson had decided to relocate here after World War I.
Evolving from "Home on the Range" to Jeffrey City, the town's population spiked after prospector and businessman Bob Adams started the Western Nuclear Corporation mining firm and opened a uranium mine in 1957.
At its peak, Jeffrey City's population sat at 4,500, while the town boasted its own newspaper, a school with 600 students enrolled, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Unfortunately, a 'partial meltdown' at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in March 1979 caused the uranium industry to largely collapse amid safety fears. Uranium prices plummeted, the Split Rock Mill was placed on standby, and was shut down in 1982. By 1985, 95% of the residents had left, and things have continued to decline since.
A 2010 census listed only 58 residents, while a 2021 census claimed there were just 24 residents left – including two students at the elementary school.
A handful of businesses are thought to remain, including a Baptist church and The Green Mountain Motel, which is said to be the only lodgings on a 196 km stretch between Rawlins and Riverton.
On the outskirts of town is a giant sign that tells the town's story and is titled "Jeffrey City: Biggest Bust of Them All."
The stories of some residents were told in a 2025 documentary called Jeffrey City’s Not Dead: The Voices Of A Modern American ’Ghost Town'. Giving fascinating insight, resident Linda Borden explained what happened during the collapse of the uranium boom: "Everybody that was associated with Western Nuclear had housing through them. So, you don’t have a job, you don’t have housing anymore...Probably within two weeks, everyone was gone."
One of the most vocal among them was Isebel Hiatt, who runs the Split Rock Bar & Cafe and has her own somber prediction for Jeffrey City: "This place has its own future. There ain’t nobody going to tell you what it’s going to be like in the future, and I can’t tell you what I want in the future because this place is this place. It will do the future on its own."