Charles Augustus Steen(Second From the Left) was born in 1919. A Texan by birth everything about Charlie seemed a little larger than life. Charlie was a geologist and had worked for various oil companies throughout Texas. While he was a hard worker he was considered headstrong and didn't take orders well. By December 1949 Charlie and his family were without work.
At the same time the threat of a Soviet menace had began the Cold War. The United States began to stockpile Uranium for refinement to produce Nuclear Missles as the arms race escalated. The government was paying top dollar for Uranium much of which was being imported from Canada. Charlie though had heard that there was Uranium on the Colorado Plateau and headed to Moab to find it.
Charlie, his wife, and their three boys packed up their bags and moved to moab with little more than a thousand dollar loan from his Mother. They built a small tarpaper house in Cisco, Utah about 30 miles north of Moab. Charlie went to work immediately.
For two years Charlie search fruitlessly for Uranium. Running up large debts with all the stores in town but his opptimisim impressed many people who invested in Charlie. Most Uranium Prospecters used sophisticated Giegier counters to identify the radioactive matierals like Uranium, Charlie though being near broke relied instead upon his skills as a Geologist.
On July 27th 1952 Charlie was drilling 30 miles south of Moab in a place called Lisbon Valley. It was on that day that he struck one of the largest and purest beds of Uranium ore ever found in Utah. With in two months he had made over a million dollars as the government bought up his Uranium.
Charlie took his money and built his family a house with a Million dollar view on the hillsides above Moab. Today his home is a resturaunt called the Sunset Grill. After taking care of his families needs Charlie turned his attention to Moab. Charlie needed workers for his mines and for his Uranium Mill and while there were plenty of workers there was a shortage of houses.
Moab in 1950 was a sleepy town of 1000 by the middle of the decade it had swelled to a population of nearly 6000 however the housing situation was bleak. Many workers lived in tents or moblie trailers waiting for homes. Charlie quickly went to work building homes for his workers and members of the community. Today several streets in moab bear the names of Charlies Sons and friends in what is called Steenville. Charlie also used his money to build churches to attract employees from farther a feild than Utah. Even the Museum of Moab benifited from Charlie's support via his friend Dan O'Laurie who supported the Museum and payed for the construction of the current building.
Charlie for a time served as a government representatvie for Grand County to the Utah State Senate but after a time chose to move from Moab. Charlie retired to Nevada where he built himself another beautiful home. In 2006 he passed away having indelibly changed Moab and South Eastern Utah Forever.
