DOWN BELOW-THE QUEEN MINE
Our last adventure in Bisbee was to take the tour down into the old Queen Mine, once an important part of the thriving mining industry that gave the entire town its reason to exist.
The first thing we do is get outfitted for damp conditions-and, perhaps, falling rocks!
Pete, our guide into the mine, is a former miner with the most amazing information about the life of the men who risked their lives daily down in the mines. We learned about how to set explosives, among other things, how the men needed to rely on each other, and the dangers of not doing so.
With our jackets and helmets on we boarded the train down the track deep into the mine. The temperature remains fairly constant in the mid-forties farenheit.
Pete showed us “the facilities” used by the men down in the mine.
Riding back up to the surface we saw this sign, lit as was all in the mine, by small lamps powered by battery packs as part of our equipment to go down into the pitch black mine. At one point we all turned off our lamps to experience what “true darkness” is. Only a cell phone light appeared in the utter black down there.
Up above ground once more we visited the gift shop. One of the signs showed this old photo of the early days of the Queen Mine before “modern technology”.
This diorama gave an explanation of the process of working in the mines.
As we left Bisbee and headed back to Tucson we still had a few more opportunities for photos.
BISBEE, ARIZONA
Leaving Tombstone, we headed for Bisbee.
BISBEE, ARIZONA. Even the name conjures up memories of my early days in Arizona. I first visited this little town in the far southeast of Arizona in the mid-Seventies. Back then it was a little “wilder and woolier” indeed. The laid-back flavor of this town still remains. Back then, there was no hint of “gentrification, Arizona-style”. I had memories of a summer visit , hanging out at The Glory Hole Saloon and St. Elmo’s Bar. There was even a horse or two on the streets.
I remember climbing up the zillion steps to stay with locals in a rustic little house. There were pears growing on a tree outside that were huge. Though it was broiling hot down in Tucson, it was gorgeous and temperate a mile high in the Mule Mountains in Bisbee.
There were other artists and lots of people making silver jewelry with the abundance of local stones such as the famed Bisbee Blue turquoise as well as other stones such as azurite. These and other stones are found in the same area as copper and silver deposits.
The first wave of people to discover the town of Bisbee just as copper mining came to an end in 1975 were referred to as “hippies” and I suppose this fit the picture of the lifestyle of many residents of Arizona at the time. Though I didn’t consider myself a hippie in those days, (I owned panty hose and wore lipstick), life in those parts certainly was bent in a direction that was far more relaxed than say, New York or San Francisco!
The desert’s vastness suited my need for wider horizons both as an artist and in some sort of psychic dimension, and Bisbee was the perfect getaway from the big city of Tucson when a trip into the past was in order.
The town has been rescued from disappearing by artists and boomers looking for a place to retire, escape, or relax. Tourism has replaced the work once provided by the copper mining industry, and retirees man the desks at the wonderful museum and take visitors on tours of the old Queen Mine.
There is still the flavor of the old days in Bisbee. Folks resembling those hippies of years ago still walk the streets. The laid-back atmosphere and remote location still seems to invite those who live life in a far different way than in the big cities. There seems to be room to “get off the grid” in a manner of speaking, room for alternate ways of living, and I suppose, for making a living. It’s the kind of town that tempts those who want to escape- to write, make art, hang out, or even as an old San Francisco colleague’s son did, buy a ranch and raise snakes. (He was a herpetologist!)
The old headquarters of The Phelps-Dodge Company, the mining company responsible for much of the town’s development, is now a fabulous museum ( affiliated with The Smithsonian Museum). We chatted with the wonderful women who worked there about the history of this company and its role in this “company town”. Unfortunately no photos could be taken of the amazing exhibits which documented every detail, building, individual, and event of the history of Bisbee as a mining boom town.
The kind of train used to go deep into the mines sits outside the Museum.
I assume these are prison inmates who are brought to work on the Museum grounds, watched over by a female guard.
This “Bisbee character” remained obligingly still for my photo.
Like Tombstone and Tucson, Bisbee has provided the setting for Hollywood movies and television productions. Stars like John Wayne visited and often stayed at the famous Copper Queen Hotel (which was being renovated on my last, long-ago visit.)
Unfortunately, my sliver of the front of The Copper Queen Hotel was taken on the fly and I didn’t have a chance to take another. But the hotel’s website tells mcuh more of The Copper Queen’s part of Bisbee’s history.
Just behind the Copper Queen is the area known as Brewery Gulch.
Rugged vehicles are the rule in this part of the country. This is a real Bisbee mode of transportation and looks like it’s seen a lot of road.
A short walk from The Copper Queen is the entrance to the now-closed Queen Mine. We headed there after the Museum to take the tour.
webs and threads travels 