Saturday, December 5, 2015

Bisbee Arizona

We went to Bisbee and bought a Frisbee, well, not really, but how many words rhyme with Bisbee? Bisbee is another of the US West's old mining towns. In this case, an amazing success story. From the 1880's to when they finally exhausted the veins of ore in the 1970's, the mines of Bisbee yielded in excess of 8 billion pounds of copper plus much silver, gold and other metals. It all had to do with the way super heated water dissolved and deposited these metals there while the earth was doing it's volcanic and plate shifting routines of so many millions of years ago. The mines also held crystal rooms where amazing specimens of Azurite, Malachite, Apatite and others were found again and again. The colors are astoundingly intense. You can take a quick view here:  http://www.bisbeeminingandminerals.com/#!mineral-gallery/ciu6
or just Google Bisbee Crystals.
The town burned to the ground a few times early on and the wealth that was accumulating in this town once called the most sophisticated town between St Louis and San Francisco got fed up with wood construction and built some very attractive and sturdy brick and stone structures. This is not a place on many tourist destination radars. It is very close to the Mexican Border and somewhat remote. A long day from Tucson. Easier from where we are in Benson.
Here are a few photos:



Also, as we've seen in other parts of Arizona, there exists a fun and quirky approach to the western style. This is from a retail store window.

This is a kitchen dish towel from that store.

And a vintage old western comic book.
 The deck of a local's house and their table.
 The gate from the front of another local home. An old car door.
 The Copper Queen Hotel where we had one of the best French Dip sandwiches of all time.
 And my favorite. The doors of a home courtyard in pounded copper with old mining pick axe heads as handles. Plus the adorable dog sticking his curious nose out the bottom.

2 comments:

  1. Where are all the people?? Not a one in your wonderful pics and narrative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, car door gate and so much more. What a great place.

    ReplyDelete