Bisbee, Arizona

Nestled in the hills of the Mule Mountains, a short distance south of Tombstone, the town of Bisbee remains a reminder of its former days of prosperity. From 1877, after the discovery of rich surface deposits that led to the establishment of copper mines, Bisbee rapidly grew from a tiny frontier outpost into one of the greatest mining centers in the Southwest. By the early 1900s, rich copper mines transformed a once-rough camp into one of the largest and most cultured cities between St Louis and San Francisco. 

For almost a century, from 1877  to 1975, when the last of the underground mines closed, Bisbee's mountains yielded more than 8 billion pounds of copper as well as gold, silver, lead and zinc, representing one of the most productive mining districts in the world.
It never ceases to amaze me that prospectors seemed to know where to look and recognize the signs for areas with potential minerals. They knew how to read rocks but likely more often than not it was sheer luck to discover a seam with rich ore deposits. Now companies are able to drill and extract core samples from the earth, sometimes to a depth of 3,000 feet below the surface. Geologists study the layers of rock for traces of metal and clues about geological processes. But back in 1877, it was army scouts who stumbled upon rust-stained rocks and bad-tasting water in the nearby hills, finding clues that minerals lay below. Timing was fortuitous. The huge copper deposits were discovered just as electric light and power was emerging as a brand new technology requiring miles of copper wire to carry electricity to cities and towns around the world. And thus Bisbee thrived and grew as a mining town, attracting a work force from all over the US and overseas.



We took a tour of the Queen Mine, led by a retired miner who started working in this mine the day he graduated from high school. 

We suited up with hard hats, a safety vest, a brass tag (which is a form of identity for each miner), and a flashlight.

The same train that transported miners daily to their stope workings carried us 1,500 feet into the mountain side. As we jostled along, an image popped into my head of seven dwarfs, picks in hand, singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go...."

Learning about the daily life of a miner, the various jobs, the safety risks, the back-breaking work in tight and dangerous places, and the pressure, was enlightening. 
I couldn't imagine choosing this line of work, essentially spending 8 or more hours underground in the dark, with the reality that should things go wrong, you might not make it back out. And after the hour-long tour, I was more than relieved to be back in the sunshine, both feet firmly planted back above ground. 

our guide pointing out the holes filled with dynamite and explaining how he
drilled the holes and lit the fuses

one of the minecarts filled with ore

Here is a link to a video Michael put together of our tour:
Queen Mine Tour

Afterwards, we walked around town with its imposing brick buildings, now relics of former grandeur. 


We strolled up an interesting alley, its walls plastered with paintings and wall art. I marveled that they remain undisturbed and intact in this dry climate. These would never survive in drippy Seattle!

At the Mining Museum, we spent several hours learning about Bisbee's history and growth as an important and lucrative mining center.  The second floor was particularly interesting, focusing on informative and excellent displays about the mining industry, its history and evolution, as well as the daily procedures and practices of miners. 

Here I learned the importance of the brass tag we were given to pin on our vests on the tour. Brassing in is the term for the daily procedure of reporting for work. The timekeeper handed each miner a brass tag stamped with a number that was a vital piece of identification and sometimes key to survival. The miner kept his brass with him during each shift underground, returning it to the timekeeper at the end of the workday. A missing tag could mean that a miner was either lost or injured underground, and a search was quickly organized. 

brass tag board

In most cases, the "lost" miner had simply forgotten to return his brass. Men who spent precious after-work hours searching for a missing friend took a dim view of such absentmindedness, especially if they found the man comfortably seated in his favorite bar.

timekeeper with brass tag board

Despite the intensity and ever-present danger of their jobs, miners seemed to have a sense of humor based on several of these plaques in the museum:




Miners also created their own language of nicknames, some more complimentary than others. Here are a few examples from the memoirs of a Bisbee miner, John Shaffer (1930-2001):

• WINE DROP: Wine Drop often drank a drop too much and came to work hung over
• RAINBOW: Rainbow Bread used to advertise that it took eight hours to make a loaf.  When one miner got lazy, everyone started calling him "Rainbow, the eight-hour loaf" 
• KNIFE and FORK: One miner had a Spanish surname that translated into English as "knife" so his partner naturally became known as "fork"
• TWEETY BIRD: A large man with a high-pitched voice
• MYNA BIRD: He talked endlessly but said nothing
• FLYING NUN: A Mexican miner with a big handlebar mustache got this nickname when he fell 24 feet down a raise
• CHERRY TREE: He was prone to make light of the truth - the opposite of the tale of George Washington
• HARD LUCK HENRY: Henry constantly had bad luck and wasn't too proud to cry about it
• FREIGHT TRAIN: Huffing and puffing, clanging and banging, this guy made you think a freight was coming down the drift
• STINKY: One of those unfortunate names that follow a boy into manhood, but the only effect it seemed to have on this fellow was to make him more successful  
• TINY: this name was used in two ways. One "Tiny" was the smallest in the family and the other was a hell of a big guy
• MECHANICAL MAN: This man walked with a stiff-jointed rolling deliberate gait, like a robot

stunning colors found deep inside the earth

I enjoyed the displays showing the exquisite colorful crystals lining cave-like openings that miners would occasionally break into. Thousands of such "oxidation caves" lay hidden in the limestone hills around Bisbee. Some small cavities were the size of footballs, others were openings the size of football fields. 

Workers in the Lavender Pit occasionally unearthed deposits of turquoise. Famous for its dark blue color and much prized for jewelry, the high-quality turquoise found in this area is known by its trade name, Bisbee Blue.

Bisbee Blue

A major change in copper mining took place after 1910 when new technology of open-pit mining turned mountains into canyons. It was more economical and simpler to take the whole mountain instead of riddling it with tunnels. Open pit methods target low-grade ore but to produce enough copper to make a profit, huge quantities of low-grade ore had to be excavated. Methods of mass production had to be applied, using mechanical shovels, railroads, new processing technologies and a much smaller labor force. 

an open pit mine 

Copper mining ceased in Bisbee in 1975 because the ore ran out. However mining experts say there are hundreds of millions of tons of ore around Bisbee. If rock contains even tiny specks of metal that can be extracted for a profit, it's ore. So as extraction technology improves, waste rock is reclassified as ore. In theory, mining could return to Bisbee, though it would be an entirely new operation using chemistry and electricity to extract copper from piles of rocks. This type of mining is more environmentally friendly, requires a higher-tech worker, and is safer. Bisbee's future remains to be seen and the town may yet rise again like the mythical phoenix.

Perhaps the most thought provoking section of the museum was the one illustrating how much ore would have to be extracted to provide the 25 pounds of copper contained in items that the average American purchases each year. 

A wall collage shows all the items that require copper.

From mere milligrams to pounds, here are a few examples of how much copper is required to manufacture these items we take for granted daily:

The final thought on exit from the museum shows a large poster of the statue of liberty and the title: Is it worth it?

And underneath is this statement:

Definitely food for thought...

Tombstone, Arizona

We had some time before checking in at the Arizonian RV Resort on November 1st. Along the way there, we spent several days in the Tombstone area.
Other than hearing the name mentioned by several friends, and that Tombstone was the site of the gunfight at the OK Corral, we didn't have much idea about what we would discover when we decided to make this interim stop. 

Our first discovery was the terrific RV Resort where sites are large and the desert expanse surrounds you. Tombstone Territories RV Resort may be out in the middle of nowhere but we enjoyed the quiet and solitude, and the open desert. The abundant sunshine and just-right temperatures were welcome too. Morning walks (me), runs (he), swims in the pool adjoining the large club house building, and room for me to work on the next quilt project helped pass the time most pleasantly.

a place to spread out and arrange blocks

The sunsets were pretty spectacular each evening.


We also had time to explore the area and made several other discoveries while staying here. Despite its morbid name, Tombstone, implying little activity or life, the town has a colorful history that is being kept very much alive.
Most of this region is rich in silver and copper and attracted many prospectors hoping to strike it rich. In 1877 Ed Schieffelin explored the San Pedro hills for silver despite the warning that he would only find his tombstone since this was Apache territory patrolled by Geronimo. Ed, however, did find silver and as a joke named his first claim and mine, The Tombstone. When that vein dried out, he discovered his second vein naming that one Lucky Cuss mine after Ed's brother told him he was a "lucky cuss." 
Obviously Ed had a sense of humor.  

As the news spread, more prospectors converged and the town of Tombstone grew to become one of the richest silver camps in the west, yielding nearly 1,000 tons of silver. 
Today it remains a popular tourist attraction and an American Historical Landmark town.

Wyatt Earp was one of the prospectors trying to strike it rich here. And of course now lives on in the legendary gunfight that took place here in Tombstone at the OK Corral.
By coincidence we happened to visit the town on the very day, October 26th, and the 137th anniversary of the famous gunfight between the law-abiding Earps and the lawless cowboys, the McCleary-Clanton gang.


We caught the afternoon reenactment staged by a group of talented gunslingers, booed the bad guys (Clantons and McClearys) and cheered the good guys, the Earps and Doc Holiday, until it was over, the guns silenced, bodies motionless on the ground. 
Sometimes the "Law" in the Wild West needed a different approach when dealing with Outlaws who believed in their own system of justice. 

Despite the subsequent trial and days of eye witness testimony absolving the Earps, to escape further retribution, all parties that came out alive in the gunfight had to watch their backs or moved away. Those were the days...



Michael captured the OK Corral shoot-out on video:
Tombstone and the OK Corral

We spent a pleasant afternoon strolling along wooden plank sidewalks, passing gun slinging men in long trench coats and women in period long dresses, and observing stage coaches arriving in town. 

We learned about Tombstone's colorful history, forever preserved in this historical town, watched a movie in an old theater, saw the various displays in the museums, and enjoyed an ice-cream from an ice-cream parlor.


But there is more! We discovered yet another popular and international pastime that took place while we were in the area. Given the past cowboy, gun slinging tradition of this area, it is perfectly fitting that the Arizona Cowboy Action Shooting Championships were being held over the weekend.  
The story is that one morning I was gazing out of the window while enjoying my morning cup of tea and happened to notice our neighbor in the site next to us. He was dressed in what looked like a costume, similar to what I imagine Davy Crockett wore with soft leather top and pants with tassels. I thought that perhaps he was preparing for a Halloween event since Halloween was later that week. Then I noticed that he had rifles laid out on the picnic table and was meticulously cleaning and polishing one of them! Yikes!

It turned out, when I approached him wide-eyed to inquire what exactly he was doing, that he is a competitive sharp-shooter and that is how I learned about the Bordertown event being held down the road. He encouraged us to come and take a look. 
We did. 
It was fascinating to stroll through the event, watching sharp shooters compete in various rounds with different guns, shooting at targets in succession. All competitors were dressed in some manner of period costume. There were women as well as men competing. We strolled around fascinated to peek into a world that was totally foreign, marveling at the speed and accuracy as the bullets pinged and zinged their way through the various props. 

There were tents and booths with all the items that sharpshooters require for their hobby, from bullets to costumes and the caddy to carry all their equipment. This was very much a family-friendly event, with families and kids milling about to support and cheer their competitors.


Here is a link to more information about Bordertown and the Single Action Shooting Society. 
And here is the link to The Town too Tough to Die, Tombstone.

Alamogordo, New Mexico

Our next stop was Alamogordo where we stayed at the Elks. Along the short drive to our destination, we could see the black streak of the malpais to the west. 

Not too much further, the contrasting white of the gypsum dunes started to appear. 

Here is a map showing the relative locations of Valley of Fires and White Sands NM, courtesy of GoogleMaps. The black "river" of malpais and the bright white gypsum deposits are clearly visible.

The attraction in Alamogordo is the White Sands National Monument, which we visited back in 2002 during our Eurovan fly-by touring days. The dunes were impressive then and even more so now because we spent more time exploring and learned more about their unique formation. 
We also went on a ranger-led hike across the dunes and watched a spectacular sunset while a full moon was rising. It was enchanting.

The impressive dunes started to grow 10,000 years ago in a process that continues today. The 250-million-year-old gypsum found in the surrounding mountains dissolves with snowmelt and rains. It drains, mostly underground, and settles here in the Tularosa Basin. With summer monsoons or heavy snows, groundwater levels will rise above the surface. Lake Lucero, a large mineral-rich temporary lake, reappears southwest of here. Wind and sun separate the water from the gypsum and form selenite crystals. Wind and water break down the crystals making them smaller and smaller until they are sand. Steady, strong southwest winds keep gypsum sand moving, piling it up and pushing dunes into various shapes and sizes. One constant about this area is that it is always transforming, often at a fast rate. 
Several information boards best explained an overview of the evolution of the geology that caused the dunes. The story is a familiar one, the result of inland seas retreating followed by tectonic plates pushing and pulling, then creating mountains with a basin, which in this case resulted in the phenomenon of the white gypsum dunes that cover an area of 275 square miles. It is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. White Sands National Monument preserves more than half of this oasis, its shallow water supply, and the plants and animals living there.

We spent a pleasant sunny afternoon driving in the park. The approach to the dunes was pretty. 

But the dunes themselves were spectacular, an unreal mirage blinding you with its whiteness. Under a piercing blue sky, the white seemed even whiter.

We went on a short hike across the dunes. The gypsum made a squeaky sound as we tromped in our hiking boots, yet was soft and powdery.

Along the Interdune Boardwalk, I learned a few interesting facts about gypsum. 

It is also found on Mars.

Gypsum is the reason that many animals have adapted to a white color to survive better and this phenomenon provides scientists an opportunity to observe the evolutionary process. The lighter color reflects heat which keeps animals cooler and hides them better than their darker cousins just a few miles away.

The most fascinating fact is that gypsum continues to be a valuable mineral. It's the main ingredient in drywall and plaster of Paris, and a $100-million-a-year industry. It is also a mineral found in all kinds of household products, medicines, and food like bread, toothpaste, ice cream, beer, wine, cheese and is of course the main ingredient for casts to set broken bones. According to the information board, during my lifetime I will eat an average of 28 pounds of gypsum. 

pedestal formed by sumac

On our ranger-led dune hike, it was again surprising to see how many plants grow in this unfriendly and constantly changing  environment. Adaptation helps the few shrubs like skunkbush sumac grow dense, deep roots that help form a pedestal after the dunes move on. Animals find shelter in the pedestals. As sand buries the soaptree yucca, its stem grows longer to keep new leaves above the sand. Sadly after the dune shifts and moves on, the exposed yucca soon falls over and dies.

yucca

Our ranger-led hike was the highlight of this visit. Watching the sun setting was very memorable, the clouds glowing pink and bright. 


And the white moon rising over the white dunes was quite surreal.