We spent the day in Bisbee, Arizona, about 45 miles south of our base in Benson. Bisbee is an old Arizona mining town that dates back to 1880. At one time Bisbee was the second largest city west of the Rocky Mountains (the first being San Francisco). It was THE economic engine of Arizona, indeed of the old southwest. Mining was king and copper was it's queen. The Copper Queen copper mine was the largest but just one of several copper mines that produced millions of tons of copper, gold, silver and other minerals. Opened in 1877, the mine ran until the mid 1970's when the price of copper plummeted and the mine closed. At the mine's heyday the ore contained up to 23% copper. By the time the mine closed the percentage of copper in the mined ore had dropped to about .5% copper. Bisbee was named after one of the original investors in the mine and who never set foot in the town. At one time the Phelps-Dodge mining company owned all of the claims in town but they have since been bought out by a larger company whose name escapes me.
When the mines closed in 1975 the miners and other workers sold their homes for anywhere between $100 and $5000 and moved out and the hippies and artists moved in. Bisbee is now quite the artists colony. Art shops abound along the narrow streets. And boy are those streets narrow! Sometimes they're barely wide enough for a single vehicle but all streets are two-way. Homes are perched on mountain sides with parking areas literally cut out of the rock. Some homes can only be reached by climbing 50-75 stairs. Imagine carrying your groceries! Mining may be returning to Bisbee in the near future. The company that owns the claims are drilling test holes to see if it would be profitable. The idea of mining coming back to town has split the residents into two parts, for and against. Some do not want to see a return of open pit mining as it would destroy more of the scenic beauty the town enjoys. Others look forward to the economic benefits mining would bring.
Bisbee's history is, to say the least, colorful. There wasn't a lot of law in the early days but there were a lot of saloons and brothels. By 1908 the town was pretty much laid out with electricity, natural gas, water and sewage. Bisbee was never a company town...the mine employees built and owned their homes on land bought from the mining company. Immigrants flooded the area to work in the mines from Europe, Asia and Mexico. Wages were high and the workers prospered. Fifteen schools sprang up, some public and others private.
Today, Bisbee is a tourist town. The town has about 6500 year-round residents who enjoy a nice climate, but they do get snow in the winter (average altitude in Bisbee is 5500'), although it doesn't hang around long once it falls. Most of the people in town who don't work in the tourist business work for Cochise County as Bisbee is the county seat of Cochise County. There are many, many hotels and B&B's in town along with a large selection of restaurants and bars. The old Phelps-Dodge headquarters building is now the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. We were so busy taking the various tours in town that we didn't have a chance to see the exhibits in the museum. Some of the antique shops were interesting. Some decided that the way to attract customers was by placing political posters and bumper stickers in their windows. One particular store featured a photo of President Bush equating him to Adolph Hitler. I wonder how well that works in attracting customers?
We started the day by taking a tour of town with Lavender Jeep Tours, Jeep Wranglers modified to carry additional passengers and painted Lavender. At first I didn't understand why Lavender. But during the tour we saw the Lavender Pit, an open pit copper mine opened by Phelps-Dodge in 1950. It was named in honor of a Phelps-Dodge Vice-President who conceived the project. The Lavender Pit is HUGE covering over 300 acres and at one point it is nearly 850 feet deep. Our driver, Boyd, was very knowledgeable about the town and its history and did a fine job during the nearly 2-hour tour. Following that we took a tour of the Copper Queen mine, one of the largest and most profitable mines in the United States. Now leased by the City of Bisbee the tour takes you roughly 1500-feet (horizontally) into the mine on a small battery operated train. Various aspects of how copper, gold and silver were explained by former miners who actually worked in the mine. We've been in a lot of caves but none so completely dark as this mine. After hitting two home runs with these tours we committed our first error later that evening when we took the Bisbee Ghost tour. This consisted of a walk around town (remember...the town is perched on a mountain side so there was a LOT of stairs and ramps to climb) with our tour guide pointing out where various ghosts and spirits were said to have taken up residence. We found it lame although Renee, the tour guide, was doing her best to be entertaining.
A funny thing did happen during the ghost tour. Apparently it was prom weekend in town as we had been seeing many couples going into the restaurants in town. At one point during the tour a young couple walked by, her in her long gone and him in a suit. As they walked by Renee asked them if they were going to the, and i quote, 'Pimp N Ho dance". We were all stunned. I couldn't believe she had said that to them but they either didn't hear her or ignored her as they kept on walking. Someone in our group mentioned that it was prom night and Renee apologized to them although by this time they were well down the sidewalk. Renee then explained that there really was a 'Pimp N Ho Dance' going on that evening at one of the bars.
We had a great burger lunch at Dot's Diner, a real 1950's era diner located adjacent to the Shady Dell Campground. Dot's Diner began life under a different name in California until 1997 when it was brought to Bisbee. The fries are greasy and the milk shakes are real ice cream! The Shady Dell Campgound is full of vintage Airstream and other trailers for rent. Dinner was at the Bisbee Grille. We recommend the meatloaf dinner.
By the time the Ghost Tour (mercifully) ended it was 9pm. The drive back to Benson along Arizona Route 80 was quiet and peaceful. The town of Sierra Vista shimmered like a jewel in the desert darkness as we passed by several miles to the west. We were back in Benson and in our camper by 10pm. To see the photos from our day please click HERE.
