COPPER MINES at BISBEE ARIZONA

The drive to Bisbee AZ on Tuesday, March 14th, We stopped to take some pictures of this surface mine, The Lavender Mine was the brainstorm of Harrison Lavender 1890 to 1952, who turned the unprofitable low-grade copper bearing rock into commercial copper producing ore.  

 The time line of this mine - - -

The county turned this stop into a Memorial area for Military also.

We were not the only ones to stop and check it out. These three rode in on their motorcycles.

Driving on into Bisbee we checked in for the tour of the underground mine, the Copper Queen. We rode a train into the 1915 tunnel. Our narrator was a former miner here.  Burros were used early on, but they changed to rail cars after they were aware that the burros could do only two short terms underground because of the risk to their health and eyesight. When they were put to pasture, the workers could use them for transportation above ground.

Here we go hardhat and light!!

We are right behind these folks, same train!

Cage Lift 

You will have to use your imagination as to what we were seeing.
We also left the train and climbed 35 steps up to another cavern for more history.  It was an informative tour and great that it is cared for enough to continue to show it to the public.
Gary shared with me that he asked his father who was a coal miner, to take him down into a coal mine. However, his father was not inclined to do so in his life time. He said that he never would!! Our narrator here seemed to indicate that coal mining was much more hazardous than this copper mining. So maybe Gary's father was justified with his sentiments.
This mine seemed hazardous enough to me with the health issues that it caused and also for the blasting that was done to get to the ore.
Hope that you enjoy this information as much as we did.
I am tired of sitting here to do this Blog because of my cold, so it is time for a break.
We will be moving on to Las Cruces NM tomorrow.