A few hours in Bisbee

We had a lovely journey to and from Bisbee today. The stretch between Tombstone and Bisbee, which was new to us, was particularly lovely. We left around 8 am as the journey was nearly 3 hours. The Visitor Centre is at the Queen Mine tour centre - clever ploy I thought. We debated doing the tour of the mine and decided we would but the times that suited us were already booked out. Jim was convinced, at any rate, that I would not enjoy it but I believe that his slight tendency towards claustrophobia was the reason for his relief that the tours were booked out.

It seems to be a trend in Arizona to paint a letter on a mountain. Tucson has its "A" mountain and Bisbee its "B".

This is Chihuahua Hill where Mexicans were segregated from other workers. I got a distinct hint of racism and would love to have pursued this.

We returned to where we had parked our car, at a daily cost of 5 dollars, and decided that we would take a tour of Bisbee, not on a trolley or a hop on hop off bus but, a first for us, on a golf cart. The kiosk for this tour was where we paid for parking so we got a great deal - senior rate and our fiver back as parking is free if you take the tour! Julia, a girl in her very early 30s,maybe only late 20s, was our driver and guide and she was very informative as she is a native of Bisbee and has lived there all her life. The Golf Cart tour is ideal because it can take you places a car can't and, believe me, we went up very high. Some of the slopes downward in the cart were breath-holding but we were very safe!

You will see that pictures of flies abound in Bisbee. In 1912 Bisbee sanitation was crude and infectious diseases like typhoid were common. That year a Civic Improvement campaign aimed at eradicating flies was started. Cash prizes were offered to those who killed the most flies. The energetic boys and girls managed to kill more than 2 million flies. The following year the Bisbee Daily Review reported that there were more flies than ever!

Bisbee is a very picturesque city/town and is the county seat of Cochise County. It was founded in 1880 as a copper, gold and silver mining town and named after Judge, DeWitt Bisbee, a financial backer of the Copper Queen Mine, who never actually came to Bisbee (according to Julia and she should know! Mining in the Mule Mountains was very successful and, as a result, the population soared to over 20,000 people in the early 1900s when it was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco.

Left - once a prison

Julia's mother grew up with Jimmy's children (once the name of the Mimosa Market) and this has been the family's grocer shop since then.

This site is on Brewery Gulch which flooded frequently, particularly during the monsoon season. The houses here are now built higher above the road. In the early 1900s, because of the lack of sewers, sewage made its way into Brewery Gulch. This was the part of town for saloons and "shady ladies". The photo shows the empty foundations of a four room establishment with steps leading to each of the 4 rooms. Locals have put bedsteads there to symbolise the life of the occupants.

These steps are thought to have led to a saloon and den of iniquity.

The blue house above the white roof is where Julia's grandmother, aged 86, lives. I think she said that there are 80 steps up to it.

Houses now can cost up to 500.000 dollars here. Some are really nice. And, Bisbee has the nicest climate in Arizona. The highest it gets in summer is mid 90s and it rarely gets below freezing!

This wall of art changes daily, according to Julia.

This hotel has the smallest bar in USA. It will accommodate 4 people only.

Like everywhere else, prepared for Hallow'een. Julia described Bisbee as a ghost town but I thought a ghost town was an abandoned town or a town that was once flourishing now with few inhabitants. She also said that there was evidence of paranormal activity. Obviously they play on that for tourists with their ghost tours etc.

There are no schools nowadays in the old part of Bisbee - they are all in the new part of town.

This is the open pit copper mine called Lavender Pit. It was opened in 1950 and operated until 1974 when mining was no longer profitable. To the right of it is a hill called "The Glory Hole"where the underground mining took place. For some reason Jim does not seem to have a photo of it.

This building has made it on to Ripley's Believe it or Not. It has three storeys and each one opens out onto ground level because of the great hill on which it is situated.

This is Castle Rock, a fantastic rock formation that towers above Bisbee. Legend says that Castle Rock was the first place that copper ore rich with silver was found by a civilian tracker called Jack Dunn. Jack Dunn was part of a detachment of cavalry who had been chasing a band of Apache Indians. They found the water was bad where they camped so Dunn hiked higher up the canyon and found water gushing from a spring near the base of what is now called Castle Rock. This is when he noticed the copper.

Bisbee is famous for its 1000 Great stair climb that takes place every year the third weekend in October. How disappointing - we just missed it! It is the only outdoor stair climb in the US and a unique and challenging event. It involves participants negotiating a 4.5 mile course of 9 staircases connected by winding roads through the most scenic parts of Bisbee. The stairways originally followed the mule paths worn into the terrain during the heyday of Bisbee's copper mining past.

There is another staircase competition called The Ironman Ice Competition which involves carrying a 10 lb. ice block with old-fashioned tongs up 155 stairs, across a trail and then down a steep path to the finishing line. There is a whole lot of madness in the world and it takes many different forms!

This staue is commonly called the Copper Man or the Iron Man but its official name is the Courthouse Plaza's Miners' Monument. And it is neither iron nor copper but concrete. I'm not sure of the significance of the sporting shirt.

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church.

It's only an owl car!

And a Bisbee car!

This Inn is called after the Castle Rock mentioned earlier.

This is Julia beside her golf cart.

                                                           Bisbee's Theatre and Cinema.

Following our Galf Cart Tour we walked the whole way up main street, past all the antique shops and galleries to Contessa's Cantina for a Mexican lunch. We shared very tasty fish tacos. The restaurant was all set up for Hallow'een.

Castle Rock from lower down.

Hallow'een knitting for my knitting ladies!

This might be an owl car but it works!

Jim thought this was a good name in a mining town!











After lunch we went in to the Bisbee Mining Museum where I was most taken with the Miners' 10 commandments. I don't think we got them all but you get the jist!