“In 1877, a reconnaissance detail of U.S. army scouts and cavalrymen was sent to the Mule Mountains to search the area for renegade Apaches. What civilian tracker Jack Dunn found instead were signs of mineralization indicating the presence of lead, copper and possibly silver. The first mining claim was staked in what would later become the City of Bisbee.” – Bisbee Visitor Center (BVC)
“Located 90 miles southeast of Tucson and nestled among the Mule Mountains, Bisbee is the picturesque county seat of historic Cochise County. The community was founded in 1880, and quickly became a thriving urban center, driven by a booming mining industry that thrived on the area’s rich reserves of copper and precious metals.” – BVC
We have driven by Bisbee a couple of times but never stopped. It has always looked like a fun town to visit so we looked it up to see what there is to do. And, while there is quite a bit to do between the art galleries, shops, restaurants and bars, there was one thing we really wanted to do while in Bisbee – take a tour of the Queen Mine. The mine closed in 1975 and, as we learned, the idea to give tours of the old mine was the brainchild of then Mayor Charles Eads.
We bought our tickets online ahead of time, we suggest you do as well (click here to buy yours). The mine tours were listed as “sold out” for each of the two days we stopped by the Queen Mine Visitor Center. The old Queen Mine building also serves as a gift shop and the Visitor Center for the City of Bisbee. The mine tours are run by the City and all employees at the Queen Mine are City of Bisbee employees. Interesting side note – as City employees the tour guides were not allowed to take any tips and there were several signs around the building which said so.
It is free to enter the Queen Mine building and explore the information and pictures they have posted all around. It is worth taking some time to look around, even if you don’t plan to take the tour. There is also a movie shown in the building about the history of mining and the Queen Mine. If you buy tickets online you will still need to check in at the ticket booth.
Before the tour, everyone is given a hardhat, safety vest, and light. A safety briefing is done before you even get on the tram to go into the mine. We all had to sign waivers and were told that while every precaution has been taken, there is still danger going into an old mine.
The Visitor Center is located in what was the Change House for the Queen Mine.
We rode down into the mine on carts in the same way that the miners had when this was a working mine. We sat four to a cart and straddled the bench, keeping arms and legs tucked in. We were told not to reach out to touch the walls or try to drag our hands or feet along as that could result in serious injury.
A couple of minutes after we entered the mine the tram stopped. Our tour guide announced we were far enough underground that anyone who is claustraphobic would start to feel it. He asked if anyone would like to leave the tour and be escorted back to the surface to receive a full refund. No one on our tour opted to get out, though I can imagine that some folks do. The entire mining shaft was pitch black, except for the light from the flashlights each of us were given.
Throughout the mine there are signs telling you which way is up (to the surface) and which way is down (into the mining shaft). It was so dark that it would be easy to get turned around.
At about 900 feet into the mine the tram stopped and we walked up these stairs into one of the large caves, called a stope, that the miners worked in.
Below is a picture I found in Encyclopedia Britannica showing the different sections and types of mines. (Sigh) I wish I read this before we entered the mine, it would have made things much more clear while on the tour. As you can see, mines often have many levels, which surprised me because I always thought mines were just one long tunnel in and out.
It was hard to imagine as we stood in the cavernous stope that this was just one of the many levels that had been worked by miners each day.
In the stope we were shown a spot that looked very different from the surrounding rock. Our guide told us water seeps through the rocks and turns the copper vein green making copper deposits easy to find – though not necessarily easy to mine.
My takeaway – the work was hard! Miners pounded out tiny holes into the rock using a steel mallet and series of larger and longer metal spikes until the hole was large enough for dynamite. Then the miner pounded out another hole, and another, until there were enough to blast the section of rock.
And, while we had bright flashlights, early miners did their work by candlelight.
The miner boring the holes ended up with a section of rock full of strategically placed holes that looked like this (see below).
Once the miner had dug out enough holes, another miner, who was (hopefully) an expert in explosives, would come in to blast out a larger section of the mine.
After a section had been blasted by dynamite, other miners, called muckers, scooped up all the rocks to be taken up to the surface. In early mining, everyone, including muckers did all their work by candlelight.
The mucker would drop the loose ore into a nearby shaft. And other miners/muckers would then remove the ore from the shafts and take it up to the surface on carts, originally pulled by donkeys, then later by engines.
As we traveled down into the mine, every 100 feet (30.5 meters) there was a marker indicating how far into the mine we had traveled. The Queen Mine tour goes about 1,500 feet (457 meters) underground.
Our second, and final stop, was at the bottom of the mine. Here we could see the bottom of the shafts where all the ore was dumped into carts.
At this second stop our tour guide also explained some of the later history of the Queen Mine, beginning with the introduction of machines that did more of the heavy labor.
Other interesting things to see at the bottom of the mine: The Cage – which is an elevator used to trasport materials and equipment without the need to load and unload it on a cart. Our guide explained it was one of the ways that the donkeys were brought down into the mine. He also told us they apparently hated it.
And this special cart, which was essential down in the mine.
On the way back up I took this photo of the Mine Manager’s office. It was at about 1,000 feet (305 meters) underground. Our tour guide pointed it out to us but we didn’t stop here.
We were also told that the Mine Manager used this special bicycle along the rail lines to get around to the different parts of the mine.
Another interesting thing to do in Bisbee is to visit the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate.
The picture below was taken when the Warren-Bisbee Railway opened March 12, 1908. The opening of the railway attracted a huge crowd to downtown Bisbee. See the building in the middle? Today that is home to the museum.
As the name implies, the museum tells the history of Bisbee and the role of copper mining in the town.
“Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. (below left) Thomas A. Edison created the incandescent light bulb in 1879. (below right)
“Ore mined in Bisbee was transported by freight wagon around the western edge of the Mule Mountains and north along the San Pedro River to Benson, the nearest rail connection with the Southern Pacific Railroad. Freighting by wagon was difficult, dangerous and costly.
The trip was shortened by about 25 miles in 1881 when the New Mexico and Santa Fe Railroad connected the Southern Pacific with Fairbank on the San Pedro River.” – Bisbee Museum
“The high cost of wagon freighting led the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company to build its own railroad to Fairbank. The 36 miles of track from Fairbank to Bisbee were completed in February, 1889.” – Bisbee Museum
Pictured below: “A steam train pulls in behind the Copper Queen Mercontile, which also served as the train depot, 1891.” and “The Can-Can Chop House served the influx of businessmen and travelers brought by the railroads, 1895.”
The pictures below show scenes of overcrowding in New York City, sanitation problems in Bisbee, flooding in the street in Bisbee, the aftermath of the 1908 fire, and a diagram showing that outhouses had been built upslope from the wells which led to typhoid fever in Bisbee.
Discrimination was fostered both in and out of workplaces in Bisbee.
“Hard-rock mining was dangerous. Hazards included foul and poisoned air, silicosis of the lungs from rock dust, falls down shafts, cave-ins, premature blasts, misfired rounds, underground fires and floods, and electrocution.” – Bisbee Museum
“Bell signals (see picture below) were used to notify the cage or hoist operator when and at what level to raise and lower the cage. Bell signals were standard from the beginning of mining and were brought over essentially intact from Cornwall, England.” – Bisbee Museum
The picture below is an overhead view of a burro being loaded with water from a well in Zacatecas Canyon.
Fun in Bisbee over the years –
“Labor organizations, formed among skilled craftsmen, began in the United States as early as 1799. Samuel Gompers formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1886. It gained support among workers, with its membership growing to 550,000 by 1900.” – Bisbee Museum
“‘Patriots’ committed acts of violence against fellow citizens during the months leading up to World War I. Beatings, tar-and-feathering and even lynching of those who did not support the war effort were common.” – Bisbee Museum
During the 1917 Strike in Bisbee, amid rising tensions, Sheriff Harry Wheeler and officials from the mining companies decided to deport the strikers. Over 2,000 armed men rounded up over 1,200 men on strike and shipped them out of town in boxcars.
With thousands involved it is surprising that only two died: “a striker named James Brew resisted deputies as they entered his boarding house room and shot and killed Orson P. McRae, a shift boss who had been deputized on July 11. The other deputies killed Brew.” – Bisbee Museum
Strange but true, locals remember this and still speak about it. I overheard two different locals in two different bars talk about this incident while we were in Bisbee. Our tour guide also mentioned it when someone from our tour asked him about strikes at the mine.
Three years after the deportation a trial was held and the jury took only 16 minutes to render a verdict of not guilty, citing the “law of necessity”, which the museum explains below.
The first floor of the museum has so much information about Bisbee’s history. The second floor is about mining.
Throughout the second floor there were these signs stating the Miner’s Ten Commandments. We mostly wandered through the museum so these are not in any order.
The museum included a book with “Stories from the Underground”, which included stories from miners who worked here. This one was pretty vivid.
I didn’t realize how much Bisbee, and mining, figured into Arizona’s history. I always learning something new when we explore.
We stayed at the only RV Park in Bisbee. You will need to drive through the Queen Mine parking lot to get to it. We liked it and can recommend it if you plan to RV here. There are also at least a dozen hotels in town (even one that rents out airstreams) so definitely a way for anyone to visit and stay.
We’re so glad we finally made it here and were able to spend some time exploring the town.
These copper mines that flourished about 130 years ago are always interesting to read about…unimaginable hard labor and dangerous as well! I wonder how many men got sick and died from all kinds of illnesses!
Thank you for sharing the photos of the Queen Copper Mine in Bisbee!
The history of the Jerome Copper Mine mirrors the Queen Mine!