Voices from the Field

MINERS

We knew enough already
about where to find 
yellow cake, so when 

the government agencies came
because of the bomb, 
we thought we’d get paid 
more for uranium. 

                                     I don't think my Dad 
or his brothers or anybody 
that owned uranium 
properties knew 
about the bomb: the ordinary

miner made energy. That’s
what I learned about
in school: how the hydrogen

in a glass of water could run a freight 
train across the United States. 

                                                  But then

I got drafted and was in the South 
Pacific where I learned 

the bomb had been dropped 
on Nagasaki or Hiroshima
 
and I was proud 
of all these things and of course
my imagination went wild 

if it was my father’s or his brother’s 

properties that made 
this material, how much more

was in the area? I hoped
if it was uranium
in those bombs, I could get back home 
and produce more 

at a profit, maybe 
make it a lifetime

occupation. 
 

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