Yesterday we touched on how housing prices are driven by employment more than any other factor and there is no better example than Uravan, Colorado. Uravan was a town in western Colorado established by the U.S. Vanadium Corporation in the 1930s, which gets its name from the first syllables of uranium and vanadium, the minerals mined there.

During World War II, Uravan provided much of the uranium needed for the first atomic bomb. In the early stages of the Cold War, business in Uravan and the surrounding area thrived as the demand for uranium boomed in the 1950s. This attracted many prospectors to the region leading to another boom in housing and rapid appreciation throughout Uravan and the surrounding towns.

The military's need for uranium declined in the 1960s, but commercial nuclear power plants replaced the military demand and kept the residents employed and the town prosperous.

However, this market virtually collapsed by the end of the 1970s as a result of economic strains caused by the energy crisis, popular opposition, and finally the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979.

By the early 1980s, Uravan was almost entirely deserted and property values in the entire region suffered and still suffer today from the loss of so many jobs in such a sparsely populated region.

Uravan is now an abandoned ghost town and Superfund site. All that remains are a few historical buildings and miles of the dirt that has been plowed under. It is an eerie sight and a sobering reminder of the enormous impact of employment upon a local economy.