Uranium city is one of the famous ghost towns in Saskatchewan, located on the north shore of Lake Athabasca – about 400 miles from Prince Albert and an equal distance from Edmonton. It had a population of 5,000 people in the 1960-70s, when the Canadian government was stockpiling uranium for its domestically engineered and produced Candu reactor.
The community was a hub of activity when the mines were in operation. The site was discovered in 1949 by S. Kaiman who was researching radioactive materials around Lake Athabasca. The area served as a uranium-mining base until 1983, when the closure of the mines led to economic collapse. Today, the population has been reduced to about 50.
Not far from the centre of the community, large, two story family homes that were built around the Uranium City Candu High have been left behind to fall into disrepair. It was built just before the famous shut down of the Eldorado Mine, and the abandonment of a populated area of about 5,000. Today the boreal forest reclaims what it once inhabited, it is almost a Chernobyl like setting, but the nuclear disaster isn’t radioactive decay, it’s mine closure and the loss of hundreds of jobs.
While some are saddened by these sights, other urbex explorers fascinated by the strength of the northern vegetation as it grows through man made structures just as easy as it plants its roots within the bedrock of the north.
This is a stainless steel cap that Saskatchewan Research Council is putting on an abandoned mine opening near Uranium City. There’s many of them left forgotten around the landscape. The cap should last at least 200 years and stop humans and animals from falling 300 feet into an abandoned mine.
In June of 1981, a company executive announced closure of the Beaverlodge Mine, the main employer of the Uranium city. It was completely unexpected and the city residents were shocked. Uranium City had been an ideal place to live and work for extended periods of time, and residents who departed must have left with good memories. You may find stunning pictures of Uranium City Ghost Town below.
