SNOW CANYON AND HOWARD HUGHES

HOWARD HUGHES 

Howard Hughes decided that the perfect location for his film 'The Conqueror' which was the life of Genghis Khan would be the Snow Canyon in Utah. This area was the replica of the Gobi desert.

Genghis Khan (John Wayne) reined in his horse, sprang from the saddle, landing lightly in the dust and looked around like a true conqueror. Genghis Khan (John Wayne) went to his saddlebag and took out a Geiger counter. It went berserk. John turned to his 'army' and said, "Sorry guys. We may have survived many battles and beaten the known world into submission but we are all gonna die of cancer any time soon."

John Wayne did carry a Geiger counter, although he played Genghis Khan. He had every reason to do so. The location was 137 miles downwind from the Nevada Nuclear Test Site (NTS) at Yucca Flats. Wayne and the cast and crew were knee-deep in radio-active dust from the beginning to the end of filming.

The Location was in the canyon land around St. George in Utah. The actors had to bear 120F heat and Susan Hayward was almost attacked by a black panther. To crown it all a flash flood just about missed them.

John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Agnes Morehead, Pedro Armendariz, John Hoyt and director Dick Powell all contracted cancer and died. Wayne and Hayward were heavy smokers and might be part of the cancer or maybe altogether. The People magazine made a survey and it was found out that from 220 cast and crew, more than half contracted cancer and died, it was 91. This number did not include the Native American who acted as extras. Many of them contracted cancer and went to their graves.

The ground of the filming was irradiated from the fallout from tests. These tests were done above ground from 1953 to 1962. In 1953 alone the military had tested 11 atomic bombs at Yucca Flats; the last was a massive 32 kilo-ton "Dirty Harry" atom bomb. The immense clouds of fallout floated downwind. A lot of the deadly dust drifted into Snow Canyon in which the film 'The Conqueror' was produced for 13 weeks.

To make matters worse, at the battle scenes electric fans were used to give it a dusty, windblown realism. These battle scenes were fought on a daily basis. They rolled in the dirt and were hit by dust clouds from the huge wind machines. Even the food was covered with dust.

The radio active particles -- strontium-90, caesium-137 has a life of about 30 years and radioactive iodine-129 has a life of 5.2 million years. The dust on the site was alive with nuclear toxins.

JOHN WAYNE

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Howard Hughes and his advisers contacted the Atomic Energy Commission and were advised that the area was free of contamination. The residents of St George were told the same after they complained about the health of their livestock. While farmers can be easier convinced; it is unbelievable that a man like Hughes could have been that gullible.

He was even that convinced of the 'truth' scientists were telling him; he transported 60 tons of sand from the area to Hollywood to complete filming.

At first, when the death of cancer started to count up it was claimed that other factors were contributing. Dr Robert Pendleton, professor of biology at the University of Utah, stated that with numbers like that it is almost an epidemic.

Unfortunately, the connection between cancer and the fallout could not be proven conclusively at that time. However, in a group of this size a 30-odd cancer is expected. He thought that their exposure while filming 'The Conqueror' would hold up in the court of law.

The death of Mexican actor Pedro Armendariz was especially sad. He played one of Genghis Khan's brothers. He was informed during his last film 'From Russia with Love' where he was James Bond's ally Karim Bey. A month after filming he shot himself in his hospital bed.

After 30 years the truth about the radiation threat was established. Half of the residents of St George had cancer and the livestock was contaminated. The residents were encouraged to sit outside and watch the mushroom cloud. The connection from nuclear fallout and cancer was not established. The danger of exposure to atomic dust particles was under-researched.

It is thought that Hughes knew the risks. He founded a medical and scientific research institution in 1925 and was more than concerned with his health as well as others, well above average.

There were two facts that showed he knew. He opposed every nuclear test. He also bought every existing print in 1957 for $12million and withdrew 'The Conqueror'. It remained unseen for 17 years. It confirmed that he was guilty of causing all these death by choosing the location. It is true that movie was heavily criticized by the public which caused Hughes embarrassment. However, he was deeply troubled about the many deaths.

It was said that Hughes watched the film alone every day in his Las Vegas mansion. Some people think he tried to figure out why that film was such a failure, other think he was doing penance.

Even the sons of John Wayne were effected because they visited him at the Utah location. Patrick had a benign tumour removed and Michael suffered from skin cancer but recovered. It was influential to set up the John Wayne Cancer Institute. Michael died after an operation in April 2003.

John Wayne fought the disease for 10 years and died in 1979. His last film was 'The Shootist' about an aging gunfighter dying of cancer.