Salt Lake Tribune – Salt Lake Tribune Home Page Born Dec. 1, 1919, in Caddo, Texas, Charles Augustus Steen earned a geology degree from the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy in 1943. In 1950, a U.S. government campaign to draw prospectors to the Four Corners area in search of uranium for Cold War weapons development sparked Steen’s interest. He borrowed money from his mother to buy a portable drill, and moved his family – wife, Minnie Lee, also known as M.I., and three small sons – to the Moab area in search of his fortune. Holy cow, I thought…