| An often-overlooked metal in the history of Nevada mining, uranium has had a significant impact on our industrial landscape. Because the majority of Nevada's uranium production infrastructure has not yet reached the 50 year mark for significance under the National Register of Historic Places' (NRHP) guidelines, uranium mining and prospecting has not been extensively studied by historians or archaeologists. As such, very few of these important resources have been documented archaeologically. Nevertheless, the remains of Nevada's uranium mining industry are significant parts of our collective history. My research addresses this oversight by first providing a contextual framework for the archaeological investigation of the state's historic uranium mining resources. Data recovered from these investigations can be used to evaluate the recorded resources for eligibility to the NRHP. Finally, this thesis theorizes the creation of the Nevada Uranium Mining District which would serve to manage the state's myriad of cultural resources related to the uranium mining boom of 1951 to 1968. |
