Radium

Rural Minnesota has its share of oddities. The town of Radium, in the extreme Northwestern part of the state, must have had someone with a keen sense of the absurd to name it after a radioactive element. Perhaps he was a fan of Madam Curie, or was a chemistry major. Now a debate has emerged about the use of agriculture as an alternative energy source; subsidized ethanol plants are driving the cost of food grains higher throughout the world. Perhaps Radium will have a resurgence, its solitary grain elevator will be joined by a refinery complex. Radium, as an energy source, of a different kind.