Helium is not something most people think about in their day-to-day lives. Besides using it to fill balloons for parties, the second-lightest element on the periodic table is a curiosity at most for the average person, but there is a whole world of use for the gas that goes far beyond amusement. Liquid helium is used to cool the superconducting magnets that are at the core of MRI machines. Helium gas is also used inside some high-grade traditional hard disks to reduce air resistance the metal platters inside experience when spinning at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. Helium was additionally the lifting gas of choice for rigid-bodied airships throughout the 1920s and was the subject of strict export controls by the federal government. The alternative — hydrogen gas — is incredibly dangerous, as the world learned tragically in the infamous 1937 Hindenburg disaster, which led to the deaths of 35 people.
Helium was first discovered in 1868 by French astronomer Jules Janssen through observations of the spectrum of colors emitted by the Sun’s chromosphere. Thought to be sodium at first, it was determined through closer investigation by English astronomer Norman Lockyer that this observation did not line up with the known spectral emission of any element seen on Earth. Lockyer would name the mysterious new element helium, taken from the Greek word for the Sun, Helios.
Helium would prove to be a very rare element on Earth, seen most often in trace amounts in gasses produced by volcanic eruptions. That would change in 1903, when an oil drilling operation in Dexter, Kansas hit a gas pocket. These gas pockets are commonly composed of natural gas, which would burn off easily in flare stacks. The gas in Dexter, however, did not burn. Samples were taken to labs at the University of Kansas, where chemists attempted to identify its composition. After careful analysis, scientists determined that 2% of the odd mixture was in fact the rare helium, the first time the element was detected in such a concentration.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the High Plains remained the only known viable source of helium. In 1925, the federal government created the National Helium Reserve in Amarillo, with the goal of supplying the armed forces with a supply of the inert, lighter-than-air gas to use in observation balloons in wartime. As World War II broke out, new uses of helium were discovered, such as its use as a shielding gas in arc welding operations to prevent oxidation, and its use in detecting minute gas leaks in the Manhattan Project’s uranium enrichment plants.
After the war, the demand for helium shortly contracted, but the space race would see demand for the gas soar to new heights. Liquid helium is a vital component in the creation of the rocket fuels used to propel the space race, including the fuel used in the Saturn V rockets of Apollo program fame. This huge uptick in helium demand through the 1960s would dwarf wartime needs by 800%, and all that helium was sourced right here in Amarillo.
In 1968, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of helium, the Helium Monument was erected in Amarillo, now considered the “helium capitol of the world”. The monument was funded through a mixture of public funds and private donations from people involved in the local helium industry, and originally stood at the intersection on 10th and Nelson in east Amarillo. The Monument’s columns are time capsules, containing items from 1968. Each column is intended to be opened at different times in the future; 25, 50, 100, and 1,000 years after its dedication. In 1983, the monument was moved by Chinook helicopter to its present location in the Jack B. Kelley plaza just outside of the Don Harrington Discovery Center. One lesser known fact about the monument is that it acts as a sundial, with contrasting concrete work at the base showing the hourly divisions.
While Amarillo’s helium plant has long since closed and the title of “helium capitol” ceded to Algeria and later Qatar, the gas’ contribution to Amarillo’s history economy has left a visible mark on the area. In 2068, the next column of the monument will be opened, and mementos from that pivotal year of American history will remind those in attendance just how things have changed and what life was like for those living in the helium capitol of the world.
The Helium Monument is located at the Jack B. Kelley Plaza at 1200 Streit Drive in Amarillo. If you have pictures of you exploring the monument up close you would like to share, or stories from attending the now two time capsule opening ceremonies that have occurred, tag HPPR or send them to ncrawford@hppr.org for the chance to be featured on our social media pages!
