Queen Mine, Bisbee, San Pedro NRCA, Fairbank

Another busy day in southeastern Arizona.  At breakfast in the hotel, we noticed this sign.

We started our adventures by driving to Bisbee for the 9:00 a.m. tour at the Queen Mine.  The mine opened in 1881 and stopped operating in the 1970s.  It turns out that Helen and I were the only people on the tour, so we got a private tour with Joe.

We all had to wear raincoats, helmuts and lamps.

Then we got on the train and rode into the mine.

700 feet in, we stopped to explore a stope.

Sorry, that picture above I was trying to keep up.  A stope is a steplike part of a mine where minerals are being extracted.  I took several pictures there, but my flash was not properly set.

I got better when we got 1500 feet into the mine and went to explore a mine shaft that went off to the left but was at the same level.  We learned that there were some 2,300 miles of mine shafts in the Queen mine (Helen thinks it was 230).  Some facts about the mineral production in Bisbee: the local mines produced metals valued at $6.1 billion (at 1975 price) one of the largest production valuations of all the mining districts in the world. This staggering amount of wealth came from the estimated production of 8,032,352,000 lbs of copper, 2,871,786 ounces of gold, 77,162,986 ounces of silver, 304,627,600 lbs of lead and 371,945,900 lbs of zinc!

We got to try some of the mining tools.

And learn about the cages that went between the miles of horizontal mine shafts.  The horizontal shafts were about 100 feet apart and there at least 15 layers.  They had a bell system to communicate from one level to the next when moving the cage (elevator).

Helen got to try out the honey wagon (aka portable outhouse).

The mine supervisors had these bikes to travel on the train tracks in the mine, as they went around to check on their workers.

We learned about how they drilled the holes by hand, then loaded the holes with dynamite, then lit the fuses and ran.

A most interesting tour.  After the tour, the offices included a mining museum (complete with model mine) and gift store.

After the mine tour, we set out on foot to explore historic Bisbee.  While Helen toured some stores, I had a latte at the Bisbee Coffee Store.  We got back together, and after looking at the different brochures we had, decided upon the Poor Bitch cafe in the Grand Hotel for lunch - but it was too early, so we wandered the streets.  We found this Volvo with interesting bumper stickers.

We learned about saving money by growing our own food.

And we discovered that Bisbee has a good climate.

We found a bike shop that Ben would love.

When we went to look at the possibility of a trolley tour, we met a couple of tourists who told us about the Old Bisbee Brewing Company, and that they had bratwurst and chips for $5.00.

Needless to say, we enjoyed lunch.  They had many varieties of beer, and I chose the light lime beer. Helen is not a beer drinker, but still enjoyed her bratwurst.

After lunch, we wandered around to find a postcard to send to our favorite philatelist, Terry Bailey.  We were successful, but when we got to the Post Office to buy a stamp and mail it, we were temporarily delayed.

Promptly at 1:00 p.m., the Postmistress opened the Post Office and I was successful in sending the postcard from Bisbee.

We then headed to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.  In the late 1980s, it was designated as a RNCA and the Bureau of Land Management took over the site, trying to restore some of the natural riparian flora and fauna.  From my prior visit, I remembered one tree at the entrance.  I had Helen stand with arms spread in front of the tree trunk so you could see the size.

We visited the gift shop, and then went on a 1.5 mile self guided tour.  The trail goes across open, grassy plains to the river, along which were many cottonwood trees and many, many birds. 

I had Helen pose by some of the yucca plants so that you can see the size.  Yucca's are polycarpic and each year grow a spike where the blossoms grow.  The spike is about the same height as the plant.  By contrast, agaves (century plants) are monocarpic, producing a spike only once and then it dies.  An agave spike can grow four to six inches per day, and will be four to six times the height of the agave plant.  I did not get any pictures of agaves, but here are two yuccas.

After this, we drove through Tombstone AZ (we did not stop at the O.K. Corral) and on to a ghost town - Fairbank, AZ. This is another part of the San Pedro RNCA.  Unfortunately, the visitor center is staffed by volunteers and is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

At one time, Fairbank was a major connection of several railroads and was a good sized town.  The last residents moved away in the 1970s.  Several buildings still remain, including an outhouse built by the WPA in early part of WWII (it is the smaller building to the left).

We wandered around, out to where the railroad tracks used to be - but the just the roadbed remains, as all the rails and ties have been removed.  The remains of a loading platform are still there, but they are in bad shape.  Back in the town, the BLM started to renovate the biggest building which housed the bank, post office, shops and hotel - but that is a work in progress.

Then back to the hotel where we had a glass of wine and checked email (and I did some school work), then we walked to the Texas Roadhouse where we had margaritas with dinner.  A fine day, indeed, for two old folks.

Coronado National Memorial and Sierra Vista

My sister, Helen Boudreau, flew from Boston to Phoenix Monday.  On Tuesday, we spent the morning and lunch time at the Desert Botanical Garden.  In the evening, we went to the HOA meeting for the Carlyle Condos where I live.  This morning, we had a pleasant drive to Sierra Vista and on to Coronado National Memorial.  We had lunch outside on a picnic table in front of the visitor center and were soon joined by a half dozen or more Western Blue Jays.  Then we went into the visitor center and watched a video about Coronado's exploration of what is now the southwest USA.  He was in search of gold, but found none.

We then set off for the Cave Trail, which is 0.55 miles long climbing from 5,260 to 5,700 feet in elevation.

Among other things, the signs warned of dangers: "Smuggling and/or illegal entry are common in this area due to the proximity of the international border.  Please do not travel alone in remote areas."

Geniuses that we are, we turned a sharp left just behind the sign, when we should have taken only a half left.  After 30 minutes of gradual uphill hiking, we realized we were not going uphill enough and had gone plenty far.  But we did see much snow and ice along the trail.

We also saw snow and ice on the north sides of the hills around us.

After returning to the car (the trail head was only a 1/4 mile from the visitor center) we started the drive up to Montezuma pass at 6,575 feet elevation.  The park ranger had advised us of ice on the roads and there were also signs on the road.  At the visitor center, the temp was in the mid to upper 40s.  As we started the ascent, the temperature dropped into the 30s and we did find ice on the roads.  We met one car coming down - a Hyundai that did not appear to have four wheel drive.  We two 47 percenters probably made it about 94% of the way to the top.  Seriously, as we got higher we hit more and more ice on the road and decided we did not need to go to the top.  We found a convenient place to turn around and went back to the Cave Trail.  This time we went on the correct trail and it did indeed go up in elevation.

Over the first 99% of the trail, we probably went up some 90 stairs plus inclines without stairs.  Helen was concerned, as the trail got steeper and became all stone stairs.  We were close to making it, but there were 80 more stairs, the sun was near to going behind the mountain and so we stopped and went back down.

The sun did in fact go below the horizon as we continued back down.  We got to the car, drove to the Fairfield Inn in Sierra Vista and checked into our nice room.  We then went to the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant for dinner.  We both had the Wednesday special - an 8 ounce sirloin with two sides.  But the best part was the Margaritas and the Patron Kickers.  You could add an extra shot of Patron's top of the line tequila to some very big margaritas.  And now we are back at the hotel.