Copper Queen Mine and Bisbee, Arizona

Bisbee, Arizona was a booming center of copper production for many years.  The Copper Queen Mine operated from the 1870s until 1975, producing thousands of tons of copper as well as other metals and semi-precious stones. 

The first thing you see when you approach the town from the north is the huge Lavender Pit mine.  The bright rusty-red of the rock makes it quite a spectacular sight, and though many might consider an open-pit mine to be an eyesore, there is actually a “Scenic View” sign and turn-off for photos. 

We took a two-day trip to Bisbee, touring the mine and celebrating Mashawn’s birthday.  The mine tour requires a tasty ensemble of hardhat and reflective vest, and we had to ride a train that resembled something from a kiddie amusement park to get into the mine.  

The tour guide, himself a retired veteran of the mine, explained how the copper was taken from the rock, first with hammers and picks and later with blasting materials.  

At one point in the tour we stopped and got off the train.  The guide asked whose birthday it was, and Mashawn was serenaded with “Happy Birthday” by all of us.  As a perk (?) she got to (had to?)  sit on a specially fitted cart that served as a two-hole sanitary facility for the miners! 

The tour guide was full of stories of mining and praise for the company that ran the mine.  In his time, the miners had better wages, working conditions and benefits than similar workers elsewhere.  However, there was a major event in mining history that he did not mention – a 1917 union bust that involved 1,300 miners and sympathizers being kidnapped and sent several hundred miles away to New Mexico.  Tensions were high at that time due to the WWI high demand for copper.  For the most part this illegal act was never prosecuted, but it did affect the mining industry going forward and an eventual investigation proved the miners were not in the wrong. 

After the tour we relaxed a bit and walked around town.  Bisbee is an eclectic collection of people and businesses, having been a booming mining town, then a dying town, then a destination for artists and counterculture types during the 60s, and now becoming somewhat gentrified due to the influx of wealthier residents. 

Sajad and Mashawn went to a Vietnamese noodle shop, while we went to a coffee house and had sandwiches and snacks.  The town of Bisbee is picturesque, being built literally on the mountainsides.  

The view here of our hotel window shows the rock outside.  When we looked out the window and up, we could see a layer of houses.  I have no idea how they are anchored there.  Note also the green velvet draperies.  Some of you may remember an episode of “The Carol Burnett Show” in which she parodied “Gone with the Wind,” wearing the green drapes as a dress!  

Our hotel was an old building, like many in the downtown area, and had only a few rooms.  There was no front desk.  Check-in and entry were completely electronic.  I have never seen such an arrangement, and it’s a little disconcerting, since if something goes wrong – say the room entry code does not work – there is no one to talk to; it’s all done by phone.  I believe the company that owns it has a number of properties, all fairly small, and manages them together in this way.  It’s the kind of system that’s great – convenient and efficient - when it works.  We did have a door code issue, and it caused a few tense moments. 

We had dinner at Taco Outlaw.  Besides delicious tacos, LCR had Jamaica water, which he enjoys when we are at a Mexican restaurant that serves it.  We were some of the last customers of the night.  Our server brought Mashawn birthday churros with a small candle.  After dinner we had thoughts of stopping at a local night spot.  The town shuts down very early (as we have seen in other parts of Arizona and at Taco Outlaw!) but there is a strip with bars and clubs.  There is some dispute whether we took a wrong turn or not, but we ended up not on the strip, but circling up a mountain on very narrow, very dark roads.  We passed numerous homes and realized that the locals drive this steep mountain road every day.  They had large vehicles, too, trucks and SUVs.  I was driving at this point and I was a little nervous, especially when we came to the top of the mountain and a “Dead End” sign.  We had to get out of the car to see where the road led.  It led down to the left at a steep angle, dark and mostly without signage.  When we got back down to the main part of town, we had lost our taste for night life and headed for the hotel. 

The next morning, Sajad and Mashawn left early.  We went to breakfast at Bisbee Breakfast Club which was really in the town of Lowell, which was displaced by the Lavender Pit mine in the 1950s.  

It looks like a small town main street frozen in time, because it is.  Antique cars and old storefronts line the street.  The breakfast was excellent.  I’ve never seen such a big buttermilk biscuit!

We had heard that Bisbee was an artist’s colony, so we went in search of an art gallery and found Artemizia Foundation.  Housed in an old building that has been a school, a nursing home and apartments over time, this museum has a private collection of modern art, everything from paintings and sculpture to actual wall murals – street art, including some big names but also many local artists.  

One sculpture grouping, "Walking Man,” reminded me of the “Agora” group of statues in south Grant Park in Chicago.  

It was a mind-boggling and exhausting visit!  Usually I just photograph a few pieces that strike me, but I could not choose.  From the beautiful to the weird to the unsettling, these photos are just a sampling of what was on display at this amazing place. My favorites were those made of unusual materials - such as the beer can heart complete with major arteries, a bust of a woman rendered in both a solid medium and photography, and the bust of an ancient Roman statute, carved from a block of tightly layered, tissue-thin paper, pictured below with the gallery's owner.  

 

Signage:  See below for sign at entrance of Artemizia Foundation gallery: “Warning: Dangerous Art Ahead.”