Bisbee AZ
Back in the 1800’s copper was discovered in a canyon in Bisbee AZ. This is a very remote location in the hills of Arizona and not an easy area to get into. Once word spread, the town began to build and people from all over the world traveled to the city to set up camp and start mining. As with most mining towns back in this time period, the mines needed all of the support services to make a life in the mining town possible. This included the additional businesses people needed to support a miner’s lifestyle.
Now thinking back to the days of old, mining these hills was not easy work. It all was initially done by hand with a chisel and hammer. Miners would spend long hours in the mine swinging hammers and driving the chisel into the rock so they could get explosives into the openings to blast the ore apart. Once it was blown apart, they then had to remove the ore for processing.
Bisbee continued to grow as the mining operations produced more products. The new workers came from all over the world and brought many of their home traditions to the west. This included the foods we eat today, dancing methods and all kinds of local traditions that we currently may take for granted.
Today, Bisbee is a tourist town with all sorts of stores, shops, and restaurants. There is even a tour that you can go on down into the mines to see what is like to be down in the earth. They also have a great historical museum that will walk you through the whole history of the town and how it grew over the years. If you go, I suggest you plan on a few hours to get through all the information in the museum exhibits. I was very surprised to see so many people pay $10 to go through the museum and then not read the exhibits or just blow through the place. Take your time and you will learn an amazing amount of information regarding life back then and how it impacted us today.
After you visit the museum, make sure and visit one of the many local restaurants for a meal in this historic town. There is plenty of trinket shopping locally so just wander around and you will find something.
Lastly, make sure and see the copper ore samples. They are remarkable in color and composition. I never thought copper came from this type of rock but they are beautiful to admire.