The Expendables - Amazon Web Servicesmatchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/.../962/assets/8XJG_The_Expendables.pdf · The Expendables 3 academic articles on the Manhattan Project and the

The Expendables An Account of U.S. Federal Crimes against Marginalized Mormons

By

Riley H. Welcker

P.O. BOX 2098 Anthony, NM 88021

360-904-4591 [email protected]

The Expendables 2

Preface

This project explores the relationship between the present high rate of cancer and cancer-related

deaths in Monticello, Utah, and the open disposal of vanadium and uranium tailings by the U.S.

Government-owned vanadium/uranium mill throughout the 1940s and 1950s and seeks to appropriate the

official narrative by providing a narrative with context and humanity.

The official narrative is there is no narrative. Secrecy was and is the official modus operandi.

Americans are aware that the first atomic bomb was tested near Alamogordo, New Mexico, by such

scientists and military officials as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leslie Groves, who were working for the

Manhattan Project, but what Americans don’t know is where and how the top secret materials used in the

construction of the atomic bomb were obtained and whose lives were sacrificed as a result. The atomic

bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki not only killed innocent Japanese civilians, the immoral

extraction of materials that went into their construction as well as the construction of thousands of nuclear

weapons developed thereafter has resulted in the illness and death of innocent, expendable American

civilians.

This project seeks to give a voice to an oppressed, yet patriotic, people who have patiently

suffered abuse by the U.S. Government in the interest of nuclear-powered curiosity on the pretense of

national defense and whose continuing story has been kept “hush-hush” for a period of more than seventy

years. Not only does this poetry project show the danger of secret government operations by researching

and relating the historical damage to, and loss of, marginalized American lives, it provides a stark

warning against secret government operations like the NSA, instituted by President George W. Bush and

abused by President Barack Obama on the pretense of national protection. When the government is

engaged in secrecy, every citizen is marginalized.

This project emerged from an investigation of state and federal internet sites for official federal

and state documents related to the Monticello Mill, official Department of Energy narratives, mill site

schematics, online newspaper articles such as the Deseret News, KSL, San Juan Record, and the Moab

Times, medical and environmental studies performed by the Utah State Department of Health, online

The Expendables 3

academic articles on the Manhattan Project and the atom bomb, academic research from Utah State

University on the Monticello Mill, recorded incidents of public contact with mill tailings, unofficial

narratives of the Monticello VMTE (Victims of Monticello Tailings Exposure), historical pictures, the

physical location of the Monticello Mill, Monticello Mill site literature, and through personal interviews

with local residents.

The most challenging aspect of this project was choosing what information to exclude. Between

federal and state department records, news articles, academic research, personal testimonies of mill

tailings victims, and the quantity of historical documents compiled, organized, and produced by

journalists, researchers, historians, and personal journals involving specific organizations, operations,

people, and events in World War II, U.S. history, and Latter-day Saint Church history, it was difficult to

decide what information would be best excluded and which would best develop this project.

I find it interesting that I was accused by my professor of trying too hard to show research within

my work when research was an essential component of this project. It cannot be helped that historical

fact, principal evidence, undeniable testimony, and unadulterated truth discovered through that research

has emerged within this work as it was recreated with particular care through the medium of documentary

poetry. Any and all information excluded, however, was not excluded in order to distort any truth as my

professor also assumed; my reader is welcome to examine all documents referenced herein and pertaining

to the subject of which this poetry project is concerned. I was also accused by my professor of

propaganda—if I understand the Oxford English Dictionary correctly, the word propaganda means the

systematic dissemination of biased and intentionally misleading information (i.e. lies) through public

channels by authoritative organizations in order to promote a political cause, yet my poetry is neither the

authoritative or systematic dissemination of anything, political or otherwise, but, rather, the truth gleaned

directly from both official as well as unofficial (i.e. underrepresented and oppressed) sources—which

leads me to believe that my professor was biased against the truth presented by this project and attempted

to conceal and silence it by authoritative pressure, as has been done in all cases by the predominant

political forces presently in power, for reasons unknown to myself.

The Expendables 4

In any case, I encourage my reader to judge this work for himself based on its own merits and not

the predilections of other persons less informed.

This work is constructed in three parts: part I, part II, and part III. Part I examines the similarities

in and draws a connection between the persecutions of the Mormon people in and around Jackson

County, Missouri, and Haun’s Mill and the uranium mill in Monticello, Utah, by juxtaposing events both

past and present. Part II draws a human connection to those presently persecuted by providing the

personal perspectives of people affected by the mill; it relates their individual relationships to the immoral

disposal of uranium waste by the U.S. Government. Part III completes the connection between the

persecution of Mormon people past and present by texturing the physical journey of a Mormon pioneer

woman in her fight against the natural elements and the wild American West arising from U.S.

Government atrocities against the Mormon people by Republican-Democratic leaders in conjunction with

the physical journey of a modern Mormon pioneer woman in her fight against cancer arising from U.S.

Government atrocities against Mormon people by Democratic and Republican leaders.

The Expendables 5

A Note on the Text

This work is comprised of authentic poetry mingled with a collage of quotes taken from their original

sources, adjusted for purposes of grammar and precise use of information, and, at times, broken into lines.

The accuracy of information can be verified from the sources listed.

The Expendables 6

The Expendables (Part I) An Account of U.S. Federal Crimes against Marginalized Mormons

The primary function of uranium mills is to extract and concentrate uranium from uranium containing ore to produce a semi-refined product known as yellowcake. Yellowcake is a chemically complex mixture of diuranates, basic uranyl sulphate, and hydrated uranium oxides that contains 80-96% uranium…and/or ammonium diuranate. Yellowcake is used commercially to manufacture nuclear fuel for nuclear power and national defense purposes.

~ L. E. Pinkerton

T. F. Bloom M. J. Hein

E. M. Ward 1945.

WW II. Manhattan Project.

Uranium. Secrets.

Ore handling: Preparation Extraction Concentration Purification Precipitation Drying Packaging At that time some residents were so happy to have employment, they did not think the Mill might create danger. The government owned the Mill. The Vanadium Corporation of America— a.k.a. the Defense Plant Corporation. Secrecy. Production facilities. Remote site. Monticello, Utah. Elevation: 7066 feet Location: The Colorado Plateau, San Juan County,

at the base of the Abajo Mountains, overlooking Montezuma Canyon

The Expendables 7

Vegetation: Piñon-juniper woodland, sagebrush steepe, quakies, oak brush, white yarrow, Indian ricegrass, rabbitbrush, thickspike wheatgrass, antelope bitterbrush, scarlet globemallow

Wildlife: Black bear, elk, mule deer, cougars, mountain goats, wild turkey Avg. Pop: 1,958 Populace: Mormons—cowboys, farmers, craftsmen, miners, millers, mothers, children Gov. Memo: “a low-use segment of the population.” In the summer of 1831, a portion of the society above-named commenced a settlement in the county of Jackson, in the state of Missouri. The individuals making that settlement had emigrated from almost every state in the Union…with the hope of improving their condition, of building houses for themselves and posterity, and of erecting temples, where they and theirs might worship their Creator according to the dictates of their conscience. Faith. Industry. Hard work. The Monticello Mill.

The government invested hundreds of millions of dollars in unproven processes. No one was to know that they were extracting uranium from the Mill. Secrets.

Uranium-vanadium sludge. Little Boy. Fat Man.

The Mill processed 900,000 tons of ore. It meant a great deal—not only through the increased population during the months of building, but for all future time as the large forces of Mill workers would remain. We celebrated the Monticello Mill.

The Expendables 8

It was the heart of our economy. On the 20th of July, 1833, a mob gathered, to the surprise and terror of the quiet ‘Mormons;’ why, they knew not. The declaration of the mob was that the ‘Mormons’ must leave the county en masse, or that every man should be put to death. A meeting was held at Independence, at which it was determined to remove the ‘Mormons.’ Shortly after, the ‘Mormons’ were shot at, others were whipped, their houses were assailed with brickbats, broken open, and thrown down; their women and children were insulted. For many weeks, by night and by day, the ‘Mormons’ were harassed, insulted, and oppressed. The Missourians of Jackson County demanded that the ‘Mormons’ should surrender up all their arms, and immediately quit the county. Compelled by overpowering numbers, the ‘Mormons’ submitted. The parties of the mob then went from house to house, threatening women and children with death, if they did not immediately leave their homes. The weather was intensely cold. Women and children abandoned their homes and fled in every direction without sufficient clothing to protect them from the piercing cold. Women gave birth to children in the woods and on the prairies. Winter. Snow. Women/Children/Elderly.

Without shoes. Blood trails. The number of Mormons driven from the county of Jackson amounted to about twelve hundred souls—their houses, furniture, and crops burned; their cattle, robbed, shot down. In April 1945, a petition signed by many of the townsfolk was given to Monticello Mill management asking for a check on the deadly sulfuric acid fumes.

While the Mill was helping to put new muscle behind the American effort of waging total war, the Mormons—“a low use segment of the population” —were exposed to radiation, poisoned, and negligently allowed to die along with all of America’s other enemies. The subject of every city council: All that dust people complain about coming from the Mill.

The Expendables 9

The dust was everywhere. Government studies and memos show that the government was aware of risks posed by uranium exposure, yet failed to inform the community. From Haun’s Mill, on Shoal creek, about twenty miles below Far West, Missouri: Tuesday, the 30th. The weather was very pleasant, the sun shone clear. It was about four o’clock, while sitting in my cabin with my babe in my arms, and my wife standing by my side, the door being open, I cast my eyes on the opposite bank of Shoal creek. A large company of men, on horses, was directing their course towards the Mill with all possible speed. Two hundred and forty. David Evans, seeing their numbers, swung his hat, and cried for peace. Mr. Nehemiah Comstock fired a gun. A pause. All at once, they discharged about one hundred rifles, aiming at a blacksmith shop into which our friends had fled for safety. The mob charged up to the shop. The cracks between the logs were sufficiently large to enable them to aim directly at the bodies of those who had fled there. Thomas McBride. Levi N. Merrick. Elias Benner. Josiah Fuller. Benjamin Lewis. Alexander Campbell. Warren Smith. Sardius Smith. George S. Richards. Mr. William Napier. Augustine Harmer. Simon Cox. Mr. Hiram Abbot. John York. Charles Merrick. John Lee. John Byers… Miss Mary Stedwell, while fleeing, was shot through the hand, and, fainting, fell over a log, into which they shot upwards of twenty balls. An old man, Father Thomas McBride, after the massacre, threw himself into their hands and begged for quarter, when he was instantly shot down; that not killing him, they took an old corn cutter and literally mangled him to pieces. The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state.

Governor Lilburn W. Boggs Sardius Smith, about nine years old, had crawled under the bellows in the shop, where he remained till the massacre was over. When he was discovered by a Mr. Glaze, of Carroll County, he begged to be spared. Mr. Glaze presented his rifle to the boy’s head and blowed off the upper part of it. Glaze boasted of his deed all over the country. He blew out his brains…

Blew out his brains… Blew out his brains… Forty years after its closure, the Monticello Mill site held approximately 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated materials, including 2 million tons of tailings waste, contaminated soil, by-product material, and contaminated building material. As children, we were allowed to play in those tailings piles. We drank from the crick that ran through those tailings. We swam in the radioactive pools. We didn’t know they were radioactive. The government never said one word about it.

The Expendables 10

My father worked at the Mill. I was raised a block down the street. When I was four or five years old, I’d see him come down the street in his pickup. He would get out, and I would jump in his arms, and he would carry me inside. Dust and all this stuff was on his clothing. He brought it home and washed it with everybody else’s clothing. It was on everybody’s clothing. I remember my father replacing the screens in the windows and doors because they would just crumble and fall out. It would make the chrome on your automobile rust. Mormon leaders petitioned Congress for redress of their persecutions in Missouri. They were ignored. They sent letters to every representative and to every senator in every state in the Union. They were ignored. Lieutenant-General Joseph Smith, President, Prophet, Seer, and Revelator of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met with then President of the United States of America Martin Van Buren: I had an interview with Martin Van Buren, who treated me very insolently, and it was with great reluctance he listened to our message, which, when he had heard, he said: “Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you; if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri.” People got yellow tongues, green teeth— Early reports indicated that facilities should be adequately ventilated to reduce worker’s risk of exposure to hazardous materials, but the government did not do so in its own mills and mines. —people got cancer. Stomach Cancer Caner of the Gallbladder & Biliary Ducts Multiple Myeloma Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Bladder Cancer Kidney & Renal Pelvis failure Thyroid Cancer Lung and Bronchus Cancer

The Expendables 11

We suffered a 287% increase in breast cancer mortality. We suffered a 395% increase in death due to trachea, bronchus, and lung pleura cancers. We suffered radiation exposure upwards of 700 times the safe level of exposure by DOE standards. Over six hundred cancers attributed to uranium processed at the Mill have been identified. When we petitioned Congress for our wrongs suffered in Monticello, we were ignored. The federal government’s response: “Not statistically significant.” “They are waiting for us to die,” Craig Leavitt said. “And it’s working,” Jackie Steel said. When the Mormons in Missouri were driven from the state, they were left to fend for themselves. When we petitioned the Department of Energy, the Department of Energy turned the Mill over to Monticello. “Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you.” “Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you.” “Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you.” In 1844, Joseph Smith ran for the office of President of the United States of America: When I see how popular I am, I am afraid myself that I shall be elected; but if I should be, I would not say, “Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you.” Joseph Smith was murdered in Carthage, Illinois, in June 1844 by a mob of America’s greatest statesmen. Secrets. 1945. Pres. Harry S. Truman. A Democrat. From Jackson County,

Missouri.

The Expendables 12

The Expendables (Part II) An Account of U.S. Federal Crimes against Marginalized Mormons

Leaving for another Day of Work at the Mill Clapped in clothes still gray and dusty from the day before, I crossed the living room and met the door. Wait, my wife called. She then cantered from the kitchen, wrapped a piece of yellow cake in plastic. Sorry. I did not make you lunch today. I smelled of ore. She smelled of violets. She smiled, sadly, picked the stitchin wearing at my waist. I held the doorknob, took her hand, then wrapped my arms around her as she folded her arms, and hair and cheek and tears filled up my chest. Don’t worry, dear. I’ll be all right. I can eat sand. I laughed. She frowned and slapped my shoulder, scolded me, said I wasn’t funny, said I was a pest. I said, I love you. She said, I love you, too, James. The morning sky was gray between the window panes.

The Expendables 13

Monticello Mill Management They handed out radioactive lollipops. People got yellow tongues, green teeth. We went to Blanding for the Fourth. Navajos and Mormons lined up on both sides of Main Street—flags waved— proud to be an American. Please, take the tailings home, they said. People used it in their children’s sandboxes.

The Expendables 14

The Children of Cancer We was playin side the crick that run through them tailings piles when I heard Mom call me home for dinner. My friend crouched down, as I waved and walked away, with is knees in the bank, side is dog, butt in the air, palms planted in the grass and sand.

The Expendables 15

A DEAD DEERE I turned the tractor over. It wouldn’t start. I sat back, wiped my forehead with my hat. The smell of juniper and pinion pine drifted on the wind. A red dust devil stormed across my land. Across the canyon, Ramsay, still combining his mellow fields, inched along. Dust and wheat chaff swirled his wheels— the only movement in a near still land— a stenciled yellow string rising like a prayer, reaching heavenward. A blue bird darted across the sky. Clouds charged up from the south; the approaching smell of rain, a heavy birth. Red and yellow dust mixed to a sickly orange enshrouded town behind me. The sun’s long shafts painted the mountain’s slopes gray, brown, blue, sage. I dropped into the rich red soil below, kicked up dust around the tractor coil, checked the battery. The cable had been pulled off the post, the cable chewed on by a squirrel. Government squirrels—varmints, cunning, crooked, eager to steal a meal from my hard labor. I patched the cable, tightened it to the post. Ramsay’s combine stopped. I watched my neighbor. Dust and rain rolled before the storm along the Point. A deer that had climbed up out of Pearson’s Canyon lay dead just at the edge of the canyon rim.

The Expendables 16

The Storm at City Hall What is all this dust! My window screens disintegrated! My clotheslines rusted away! My kids keep getting sick! Someone send a letter! Send a bill! Mill Management has got to know! Management has got to do something! Or pay! The government better fix this problem! Government better step in! A letter! Someone write a letter! Letter! Letter! Letter! Stating what? We the People— Will stand for this no longer! Fight!

The Expendables 17

The Expendables (Part III) An Account of U.S. Federal Crimes against Marginalized Mormons

Marilee’s Fight~ The Journey of a Saint

It was winter when we left Missouri.

1839. Women gave birth along the Mississippi, river laced with ice, under blankets held up by the sisters

in the Church. Desperately, they tried to shield them from the bitter winds and falling snow.

February 21, 2012:IhaveCancerbrainandmostofitis’ntworking.Sorryforallofthetypeerrors.Thinkofthemasapuzzletochallengeyourday.

Marilee

They were kind to us in Quincy. But that did not last for long.

They wanted us to leave. February 28, 2012:Iguessanupdateisdue.Myplateletsdidnotgetto100,buttheyarecloseenoughthattheDr.saidwecouldgoaheadwiththetreatmentfortomorrow.It'salovehatesituation.Thiswillbe#6.Okaysotomorrowistheday.Weappreciatesooooooooomuchallofyourloveandprayersandcards.Iamoverwhelmedwithallthatyougoodpeopledoforus.Weloveyouall.

Marilee

When we found a place along the river that would shield us from the bitter winter,

we pitched our tents and settled in. The Prophet called the place Nauvoo.

As spring arrived, we found it was a swamp, a place no man alive would ever want.

Our neighbor’s wife got sick, our daughter too. February 29, 2012:Marileegotherplateletsuptoabout120andgothersixthchemotreatmenttoday.

Joseph Smith and two or three Apostles approached my daughter’s bed, laid their hands

upon her sweaty head, and by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood,

blessed her, took her hand. She stood upon her feet I watched God’s Holy Servants heal two hundred dying Saints that day.

March 2, 2012:MarileewasabletocallinatthelastVMTEmeeting,thegroupthathasbeenworkingforfundingforthemilltailing'svictimsandwhichshehasbeeninvolvedwithontheadministrationsideoftheprogramthroughheremploymentwiththePublicHealthDepartment,toshareherexperienceswithcancer.

The Expendables 18

We drained that swamp by sweat and sheer hard labor,

tilled the earth and planted seeds, chopped wood and milled and planed it, raised our homes and shops,

quarried stone and built a Temple on the hill, a Temple to our God. It was the Crowning

Jewel of Illinois. March 5, 2012:Wow,shealmostsoundedlikemyMarilee.ItwasliketalkingtoMarileeofthetimebeforethetreatmentsstarted.Shehadstrength,enthusiasm,laughedabit,caringandtender(likethenurseinher),feelinglikeshecoulddoafewthingslikebeoutonthefrontporchwatchingthegrandkidsandkidsplayingintheyard.

Nauvoo was Zion. Saints gathered from every quarter of the earth. We became a mighty people.

The Prophet formed our branches, wards, organized our women as the first

Female Relief Society, translated and transcribed the scrolls

of ancient Abraham. We were a happy people. Children playing

in their yards, mothers making quilts and chatting with their neighbors, fathers

hurling hammers at the anvil; others, their hand upon the plow.

We had socials, dinners, plays, and dances. March 11, 2012:ShehasbeeneatingsomeasshehadahamburgerfromFiveGuys,asandwichfromSubwayandbreadpuddingfromFamousDave’s. Alisawasupforavisityesterday.ShegotMarileetowalktothecornerandbackandtositontheporchandenjoythesunshine.

I climbed the hill above the river, sat beneath the Temple’s rising

marbled walls, to watch the sun set. Below me, brick homes well placed

among the colored trees. Square streets. A horse’s hooves fell, followed by the cluck and murmur of a carriage. The clouds as red as pomegranate.

The water as romantic as a Thomas Cole painting. The sun

slipped behind the far line of trees. A steamboat worked upriver.

March 13, 2012:Marileehadherblooddrawnfortestsyesterdayandherbloodandplateletsarebothlow.TheplanisthattheywillretaketheblooddrawnonWednesdayandiftheyarestilllowshewillgodowntoHuntsmanandgetherblooddrawnagainsotheycanstartthematchandwhateverelsetheydo.

The Expendables 19

Mobs threatened us again. The governor of Illinois, Thomas Ford, joined the mob. In Carthage they held a council, attended by representatives from every state in the Union but three, and devised how they could kill the Prophet. They charged him with treason, forced him to Carthage and murdered him, “powder and ball.” The Carthage Grays: two hundred men painted black. Governor Ford and his cabinet discussed the murder from the upper room of Joseph Smith’s Mansion in Nauvoo while it was taking place. They visited the Temple, looked around, broke the horns off the oxen around the baptismal font.

The Expendables 20

The government seized our city. We were forced to leave the United States of America in the winter 1846. Wagons crossed the frozen Mississippi. We struggled through the snow and mud. We were starving. God sent us quail. They flew into our camps. They landed on our buckboards. It was manna from heaven. Before we reached Winter Quarters, our men were demanded by the U.S. Government to assist in the war against Mexico and marched away. Women took the reins, drove their own oxen and wagons. Children walked the plains. March 24, 2012:Sheisonetoughcookie.Shehasbeenenduringsomepainandproblemsforawhilethatwewerenotawareof. We traveled to the Salt Lake Valley under the direction of President Brigham Young. We called our new home Deseret. Years later, an anti-Mormon Senator forced us to call it Utah, a Ute Indian word for “top of the mountains,” fulfilling ancient Isaiah’s prophecy that “in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains.” When we first reached the valley, President Young struck the dirt with his walking stick and said, “Here we will build a temple to our God.” March 27, 2012:WeappreciatethestaffattheHospitalinMonticello,themenontheambulancecrew,andtheirclosecoordinationwiththefolksattheHuntsmanCentertoprovideMarileetheimportantmedicalcarethatsheneeded.Wedoliveinaverygreatplace.TheytooknearlythreelitersoffluidfromherlungthefirstnightattheUniversityofUtahERbeforeshewenttotheHuntsmanCenter. The Martin and Willie Handcart Companies were trapped in the snow by the Sweetwater River in Wyoming. Many died. President Young called out a rescue party. Three eighteen year old men among our party waded into the water, while we waited with warm blankets on the opposite bank, and carried nearly all of the survivors across the icy current on foot, one at a time. We wept. March 28, 2012:Wewon'tknowmuchaboutwhatthefutureplanwillbeuntilafterwemeetwithDr.Ward. A few years later, a large number of us were called to settle the San Juan Mission by President John Taylor. Since there was no road, we cut our own through the roughest country any of us had ever seen a wagon go over. 200 miles of gulches, chasms. March 31, 2012:MarileereturnedhomefromupnorthonFriday. We were halted at a crevice in the west wall of Glen Canyon at a high plateau above the Colorado River. December 1879. Winter was upon us: two-hundred-and-fifty men, women, and children. As we argued whether or not we should turn back, one man said, “We must go on whether we can or not. If we have plenty of stickie-ta-tudy we cannot fail.” The crevice was too narrow to allow our wagons to pass through. We had to widen it.

The Expendables 21

April 9, 2012:Yes,itisreal.WearebackatHuntsmaninthefirstroomat4513withtheglassdoor. I don’t think I ever saw men go to work with more a will to do something than our men did. They were all young men; the way they did make dirt and rock fly was a caution. Two blacksmith forges were established at “the Hole” so that two blacksmiths could keep tools sharp as men cut solid rock. The Perkins brothers, coal miners from Wales who were experts in using blasting powder, were soon nicknamed the “blasters and blowers from Wales.” These two men were among several who were lowered by rope in half-barrels over the cliff. While dangling in midair, they drilled holes in the cliff and filled them with blasting powder. Work continued in blizzards as well as in sunshine. We also had to create a section of road along the face of a fifty-foot rock wall. Men drilled a line of vertical holes into the cliff face ten inches deep and about a foot and a half apart and pounded long wooden stakes into the holes and then filled in the resulting area with brush, rocks, and gravel until a road had been tacked on to the face of the rock wall.

Marileewasuncomfortablelastnightwithherbreathing. On 26 January 1880, everything was ready. Hy’s and Ben’s wagons went to the Chute, but Hy’s horses refused to face it. It was too steep and they had too clear a view of the river about two-thousand feet below. They tried another team with the same rearing and surging backward and still a third team. Finally, Joe Barton brought his big wheel horses and they moved off unconcerned but very slow and sure, feeling their way with their large careful feet, for they were totally blind. An

The Expendables 22

epidemic of “Pink Eye” had blinded them more than a year earlier. Joe’s horses, calm and sure, gave the other horses courage to go down. The rest of us at the top came to life with chatter, laughter, and a crazy explosion of hurrahs. April 13, 2012:MarileeisstillintheHuntsmanCancerCentertonightandmostlikelywillbehereuntilSaturdayorSunday.Shewasinintensepainyesterdayaftertheproceduresweredone.Thanksforallofyourprayersandthoughts. Our wagon was the last of twenty-six wagons to pass through the Hole-in-the-Rock that day. Joseph had helped others through the passage all day, while I and my three children sat on a pile of quilts in the snow and watched. Apparently not realizing there was one more wagon to come down, the rest of the group had all moved on to the river. So Joseph and I determined that we would have to bring our wagon down by ourselves. I sat our three-year-old son on the quilts, placed the baby between his legs, and told them not to move until their father came back for them. Ada, the oldest, sat in front of her brothers and said a prayer. April 18, 2012:Sheisverymuchawareofhersituationanddesirestobereleasedfromherpain.Praythatshebereleasedquicklyandquietlyfromthisuglydisease.WemetwithherasafamilylastnightandhavedecidedthatthebestcourseofactionforheristodiscontinueanyfuturetreatmentsandallowtheLordtodeterminehowlongshewillstaywithus.

I and one of the horses pulled on the ropes tied to the back of the wagon as Joseph braced his legs against the dashboard and gently urged the horses on. As soon as they started down, the anchor horse fell. I caught my foot in the rocks and broke free several times before I too fell and was dragged along with the horse down the steep slope. By the time the wagon stopped, a jagged rock had cut my leg from heel to hip. “Belle!” Joseph shouted and ran to me to see if I was all right. I told him I had crow-hopped all the way down. Joseph helped me into the wagon, cleaned my cut, and then climbed back up for the children. As he passed his horse, which was dazed but alive, Joseph took off his hat and waved it at me in the air. He smiled at me. I grimaced back. We had made it. May 2, 2012:Oursweetmotherandwifepassedawaylastnightafterfightingoneofthebravestbattles.Shewentquicklyandpeacefullyandwearegratefulthatsheisnolongerinpain. We settled the high country sixty miles north. Our new home. A place we could be free. Free from persecution. Free from mobs. Free from the abuses of the United States Government. We called it Monticello.

The Expendables 23

Donations can be made to the Victims of Mill Tailings Exposure to help citizens of Monticello with cancer screenings and help with cancer treatments. Donations can be sent to: VMTE, P.O. Box 127, Monticello, Utah 84535.

The Expendables 24

Works Referenced Bernstein,BartonJ."ShattererofWorlds:HiroshimaandNagasaki."Bulletin of the Atomic  

Scientists.31.10(1975)pp.12‐22.Web.10Oct.2013.Gaunt, Larene Porter. Hole-in-the-Rock. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

LDS.org. Oct 1995. Web. 13 Nov. 2013 Holy Bible, The. KJV. Isaiah 2:2 Jarvik, Elaine. “Monticello Demands Answers on Uranium.” Deseretnews.com. Deseret

News, 25 May 2006. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. Jarvik, Elaine. “Monticello Lung Cancer Deaths ‘Elevated:’ Group Hopes Study Results will

Garner Federal Help.” Deseretnews.com. Deseret News, 4 Mar. 2008. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

KSL.com. “Monticello Cancer Study Points to Uranium Mill.” KSL.com. Associated Press: Salt Lake Tribune. KSL.com, 1 Mar. 2008. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

Malin, Stephanie A., and Peggy Petrzelka. “Left in the Dust: Uranium’s Legacy and Victims of Mill Tailings Exposure in Monticello, Utah.” Society and Natural Resources: An International Journal. 23.12 (2010): 1187-1200. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Marilee’s Fight. Marileebailey.blogspot.com, 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. O’Donoghue,AmyJ.“MonticelloMillVictimsSeekHelponUtah’sCapitolHill:BillAsksFed

toHelpwithCancerScreening.”Deseretnews.com.DeseretNews,25Feb.2013.Web.25Sept.2013.

Pinkerton,L.E.,T.F.Bloom,M.J.Hein,andE.M.Ward.“MortalityamongaCohortofUraniumMillWorkers:AnUpdate.”JSTOR.Occupational and Environmental  Medicine.61.1(2004)pp.57‐64.Web.23Sept.2013.

Rice,Nathan.“ShadesofHopeforUranium’sForgottenVictims.”Dailyclimate.org.DailyClimate,28Jun.2010.Web.11Sept.2013.

Smith, Joseph. “History of the Church: Volume III.” History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Journal collection. Ed. George Albert Smith. Salt Lake City. Deseret Book Company.1980. Print.

Smith, Joseph. “History of the Church: Volume IIII.” History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Journal collection. Ed. George Albert Smith. Salt Lake City. Deseret Book Company.1976. Print.

Smith, Joseph. “History of the Church: Volume VI.” History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Journal collection. Ed. George Albert Smith. Salt Lake City. Deseret Book Company.1980. Print.

United States. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. “Health Consultation: An Investigation of Cancer Incidence in Monticello, Utah.” Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. May 2006. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Legacy Management. “Gamma Survey of a Permeable Reactive Barrier at Monticello, Utah.” Office of Legacy Management. Dept. of Energy. Oct. 2005. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

Utah and United States. Utah Dept. of Health and U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. “Public Health Assessment: Monticello Mill Tailings and Vicinity Properties, Monticello, San Juan County, Utah.” Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Feb. 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Utah. Utah Dept. of Health. Office of Epidemiology. “Cancer Incidence Study: A Follow-Up Study of Cancer Incidence in Monticello, Utah — 1973-2004.” Utah Dept. of Health. Utah.gov. Dec. 2007. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Victims of Mill Tailings Exposure. “Monticello Mill: A Legacy of Cancer.” Monticello: MonticelloVMTE, 2012. Print.