Day 7: Rest day in Bisbee

April 2, 2016

Today is a rest day. I need the rest and Bisbee is by far the most interesting town on this tour. I slept late and had a muffin for breakfast at the hotel. Awful breakfast for such a grand hotel.

In front of the Copper Queen hotel is a red brick building that is now Bisbee's museum and visitor center. It was originally offices for Phelps Dodge corporation, the mining behemoth. The Copper Queen hotel was also built by Phelps Dodge.

Bisbee Visitor center and museum. Originally offices for Phelps Dodge corporation.

Main street is very impressive. It's mostly galleries and boutiques. Bisbee boomed for much longer than most mining towns. The main boom was from 1880 to 1910 but there were later booms that kept the town from dying.

I walked around town looking at the notable buildings. Lots of stuff to look at. Nearly every building in town was built before 1910.

The new Cochise county courthouse in Bisbee.

Early in the morning I called to make a reservation for the 10:30 AM tour at the Queen Mine. It's just across highway 80, only a 5 minute walk from my hotel. Queen Mine is a huge tourist attraction with a good reputation. The only opportunity to see deep inside a mine.

Every visitor is fitted with a helmet, jacket, belt, and rechargeable light. The main purpose for the belt seems to be to have a place to hang the light.

Every visitor is fitted for a helmet, jacket, and belt.

We rode a little tram to get in the mine. People were packed together for a while. The temperature quickly dropped to 47F (8C) when the tram entered the mine.

The tour made several stops inside the mine. Copper was the main mineral extracted from the mine, but the ore also contained small amounts of silver and other valuable minerals. The mine operated from 1915 to 1943.

Tour guide explaining the ore chutes and ore carts.

Two examples of 1920's pneumatic drills were on display. The early 1920's model was dry and generated a cloud of silica dust that typically killed the operator before the age of 40. In the late 1920's new drills were introduced with a water supply to control the silica dust.

Old pneumatic drills. The early 1920's version is dry. The late 1920's version has water to eliminate silica dust.

Another area showed how the drill holes were arranged in a pattern that would allow the inserted dynamite to pulverize an 8x8x7 foot volume of rock.

Hole pattern to turn a 8x8x7 foot volume of rock into rubble.

The Bisbee area has 2400 miles (3840 km) of mine shafts. The surrounding mountains are like Swiss cheese.

After the mine tour I had lunch, then took a 1 hour nap. Later I walked around the town still more.

Bisbee has a very countercultural feel. The town attracts artists and eccentrics. One bumper sticker says "Bisbee: Mayberry on acid". The art and counterculture are new layers of Bisbee's history and culture which until recently was all about mining. Looking at the town you would never know that it's only 8 miles from Mexico or that it's in the Apache homeland.

There aren't very many abandoned buildings in Bisbee.

Bisbee was the only place I saw Bernie graffiti.

Bisbee is on very steep terrain with many tall stairways that connect the town. Bisbee markets its staircases as an attraction, with the annual Bisbee 1000 foot race that goes up and down 1000 stairs.

Little-used swimming pool hidden in the back of the Copper Queen hotel.

View from the third floor balcony of Copper Queen hotel looking towards the Lavender pit mine.

Every hotel had motorcycles parked in front.

Every place had vacancies last night, Friday. But nearly every lodging has a No Vacancy sign tonight, Saturday. Far more motorcycles in town on Saturday night.

Church adjacent to the Copper Queen hotel.

Today was totally sunny with a high of 68F (20C). Perfect, definitely getting warmer now.

Cycling: 0 mi.
Hiking: 4 mi. (6.4 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0