Discover Bisbee

The big boom for this community started in 1877 when the first mining claim was staked in what would later become the City of Bisbee.  As you venture into the Old Bisbee historic district, it’s amazing to see houses built on the steep sides of the Mule Mountains.  They say that some of these houses were ordered from the Sears Catalog – delivered right to you but you had to build it.  Now renovated to meet the needs of the modern world, many of these renovated houses date back to the 1900’s.  And it is here where many artists and musicians now make Bisbee their home.  The New York Times calls Bisbee, a “Greenwich Village West”.   It was a nice break for us to enjoy far from the dusty desert that we’ve been accustomed to for these many months.

		City of Bisbee VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Our next stop was to check out the now inactive, Queen Mine (also known as the Queen of the Copper Camps).   Visitors can pay to take a tour into the mine where the temperature is 47 degrees Fahrenheit.  They outfit them with yellow slickers, hard hats and miner’s lights.  They ride the mine train and learn about the underground mining operations.  We elected to tour the building and then stopped in the gift shop to purchase a few rocks.  About less than a mile away was where you could actually look into the open mine pit. 

A whole lot of geodes were piled on this wooden wagon.  All of them were color coded which told you how much they were.  I guess you take a chance at what you’ll get.  This geode was already cracked; price $19.99.

This picture is of the Selenite Desert Rose (or Sand Rose).  It is quite unique as it is comprised of quite a large cluster of the roses.  Generally you see them in gift shops singularly, so to see the many attached as one is quite unique. Kay has one that she got from her daughter when she was in Spain a number of years ago,  so they a common rock formation throughout the world.  Our Desert Rose sits on our fireplace mantel at home.  It is one of our treasured rocks!

The left picture below is what the Lavender Pit copper mine looked at in its days (from 1917-1974).  The pit is 4,000 ft. wide by 5,000 ft. long and is 800 ft.deep at its maximum.  The picture on the right is what the mine looks like today.  You’ll see what looks like a black hole in this picture which is water mixed with sulfur, since much of the rock around Bisbee contains sulfur.  Rainfall on this material can create a weak sulfuric acid solution which will dissolve minerals in the rock and may deposit them in the water supply.    All very interesting – along with colors in the minerals.  So much information to take in when you are interested in gems, minerals and fossils.  That’s us!

Jeff did an awesome job at taking pictures of the sign exhibits at the open-pit to give us some general education on mining.  We hope that if this is your thing you’ll enjoy it.  We are both glad that we can share this information with you. 

These pictures are dedicated to our new friends, Gene & Vesta, that we met in Safford this spring.  We showcased them in our Blog about Safford. Gene was a shovel operator.  He set records for the number of tons of material that he loaded with his shovel on a 12 hour shift.  Those records are still standing.  Not an easy job either.  Gene met Vesta at the mines in Morenci, Arizona where she was working in their Safety Division; they are both retired from the mines.

Our love of rocks, and being able to take a walk into the past at the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum - where an exhibit called “Digging In" was showcased - was the highlight of this road trip.  You know it’s worth seeing when the Smithsonian Institute has its stamp of approval on it.  This exhibit gave us a glimpse of the miner’s day, the fantastic mineral specimens found in the miles of mine tunnels, and of the many uses of copper that made Bisbee the Queen of the Copper Camps.

The museum is the beautiful brick building to the left in this picture.  It was the original structure from the days when the mine was in full operation. Situated directly in front is the piece of equipment that was used in the mines to raise and lower the cage for the workers who worked underground.

All of the fantastic mineral specimens found in the miles of mine tunnels, and of the many uses of copper were on display, but sadly we couldn’t get a lot of the photos without the glare of the display lights.  Therefore, this is only a small sampling of our favorites.  Kay said that she didn’t keep track of all the “WOW’s” that came out of her mouth!  The colors were unbelievable!

We’re sure that you know what this one is. It is one of our favorites . . . GOLD!

This piece contains the beautiful dark blues called, Azurite with the greens of Malachite.

Statue of Liberty trivia and #1 on the Miner’s Ten Commandments.  They were a hoot! It was a hard life and being underground wasn’t all that much fun in the 1900’s.  Miners would take off their clothes before descending the mines and put work clothes on.  At the end of the day they would shower and put on their street clothes.

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit the Old Bisbee Brewing Company.  Nothing tastes better than a cold beer on a hot day and this was the day.  The beer here is brewed on site, featuring every style from light to dark.  We placed our order for two glasses of Father Kino’s Sonoran Wheat Beer and then walked up to their outdoor patio above the tap room.  This particular brew was so delicious that we order a growler of Father Kino’s – along with a couple of their glasses – to take back to the RV to enjoy at a later date.   Bet you can’t guess how long the growler lasted in our refrigerator!!!!!
        

So it came to pass that our time spent in the Bisbee area was coming to an end.  Our base camp for this excursion was at the Tombstone Territorial RV Park in Huachuca City.  The park was a nice stop-over for playing catch up on laundry and to enjoy the automatic coffee maker since we were hooked to power.  (It doesn’t take much to make us happy!) We’re heading to the border -Deming, New Mexico is calling our name! Happy Easter!

We make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give.  ~ Sir Winston Churchill