Into the Mystic: Queen of the Copper Camps

Currently In: Tucson, AZ
Heading to Texas this week

Several other RV friends told us that we needed to check out Bisbee, AZ. So we did!

Bisbee, like many towns we have been to out West, was a mining town. It has reinvented itself as a tourist destination and reminded us a lot of Jerome, AZ that we visited last year. There are several historic buildings that go back to the mining days. This one, from 1897, was the headquarters for the mining company. It is now the historical society.

The Copper Queen Hotel was built in 1902. I looked around the lobby because I like checking out old hotels, but this one had nothing special. The building architecture was really interesting.

Once the hotel was built, they needed a bar. The oldest one in Bisbee is from 1902 as well and is still operating.

Once there's a bar, there better be a jail. 1909. It's empty right now.

The Copper Queen Library dates back to 1882, but the first building burned down and the second building was torn down. This brick building was built in 1907. At one point, the library building also housed the post office and other meeting rooms.

The library is on Main Street. Here is a view of that street - lots of shops and restaurants.

Once mining hits the big time, financial institutions follow. The Stock Exchange Saloon was the investment firm of Duey and Overlock in 1914. The firm closed in 1964, but the trading board and ticker tape machine remain. There was too much glare to get a good photo of the board.

One of my favorite buildings in the historic district is the Pythian Castle. Built in 1904 by a Swedish immigrant, it initially served a secret fraternal society called the Knights of Pythias. Naturally the Knights got in an argument with the unionized miners and lost control of the building. It is now an apartment building. The clock tower and green copula are so unusual.

Bisbee has several staircases along Main Street that, added altogether, total 1000 steps. There is an annual race called the Bisbee 1000! We took one staircase of about 50 steps. That was enough.

Eventually, we got back in the car and drove a mile or so out to the Queen Mine.

We took a look at the Lavender Pit. Open-pit mining began in Bisbee in 1917 and ended in 1974.

The pit is huge! 4000 ft. wide, 5000 ft. long and 850 ft. deep.

The different colors represent different kinds of minerals. The gray is granite which contains small amounts of copper. The yellow is breccia clay that surrounds the granite. The red is oxidized sulfide.