Comments From The Chemo Couch 10: A Visit To Local Mining History

Religion is for people afraid of going to hell; Spirituality is for those who have already been there. ---- Said around 12-step recovery meetings

I’ve been ranting and raving for a couple of months now, and lord knows there’s plenty to rant and rave about, but this column is more about enjoying what’s around us.  I could rant about the abysmal state of health care in an illness-for-profit-system, but it’s autumn, it’s a dry season with moderating temperatures, a good time to be out and about, even if the chemo often leaves me breathless.

Mining and Arizona go together, but that was before the advent of open pit mining that can destroy landscapes and water tables.  It began in 1736 when a Yaqui mine found a rich silver lode near Nogales.  By 1857 there were 80 working mines in Southern Arizona, with about 600 people living in Tucson.  The Avra Valley was ranching territory but the Tucson Mountains were fair game.  The first patented mine, Scott and Lee’s silver mine in what is now the Southeast corner of Saguaro National Park, was dug in 1872 and named the Nequilla Mine.

Soon there were over 5,000 miners digging in Pima County.  Most were looking for gold and silver, but many turned to copper when they didn’t strike it rich.  When Arizona attained statehood in 1912 the Capital dome was made of copper and the five C’s that drove the state’s economy were made part of the State Seal: Copper, Cotton, Cattle, Citrus and Climate.

Copper camps and company towns were racially segregated, with Anglos in the best-paid jobs.  The early Western Federation of Miners union excluded Mexicans, Italians, Chinese and others, but a wildcat strike protesting wage cuts at the Phelps Dodge Morenci mine in 1903 resulted in Mexican and Italian workers joining forces.  Leaders from both groups were convicted of “rioting” and sent to Yuma Territorial Prison; others were deported.

THE HELL-HOLE OF ARIZONA

The Silver Bell Mine is located on the west side of the Avra Valley.  Prospecting began there in the 1870s, and by 1905 over 1,000 workers and their families lied in the company town of Silver Bell.  Races and nationalities were segregated and paid at different rates.  Drinking water was brought in by mules and later by train.  The mine was known as “the hell-hole of Arizona.”

ASARCO took over operations in 1911 and the population continued to grow, up to 1200 people by 1920.  The Great Depression led to the mine closing in 1930, and that first company town is now buried under millions of tons of mine tailings.

ASARCO reopened the mine in 1952, moving to open pit extraction of copper, gold and silver.  Holes are drilled into the mountain and packed with explosives, the blasts breaking the rock into rubble.  Trucks are loaded and the ore is unloaded on stepped terraces.  A sulfuric acid solution is pumped up to sprinklers.  The acid leaches the copper ore and gravity carries it down to a toxic settling pond.  In the early days the ore was sent to the SASCO smelter, whose ruins are worth visiting.  Today the copper-laden sludge goes to an extraction area where an electro-magnetic process pulls out 99.9 percent pure copper sheets.  Drinking water is still imported.

In 1954 ASARCO built a second town of Silver Bell with 175 houses for 300 employees, along with a recreation center, post office, ball field, and general store.  The multiethnic work force was no longer segregated and worked with a union contract.  The town was dismantled in 1984, the houses sold and moved away.  The company discourages the curious from prowling the foundations and trash that remain.

THE SASCO SMELTER

Ore from the Silver Bell, Mile Wide, Gould and other local mines routinely went to the Southern Arizona Smelting Company, SASCO, for processing between 1905 and 1919.  SASCO’s ruins still stand, and although the land is privately owned, no one seems to mind if there are visitors.  The monumental base of a huge smokestack dominates the scene, with labyrinths to explore in the building across the way.  Concrete bases of railroad stanchions invite graffiti artists to stretch out, and there is evidence of paintball fights everywhere.  Despite that, it is well worth visiting.

Taking the Red Rock exit off I-10 we drive west about three miles on Sasco Road, but not if it has rained recently.  A high-clearance vehicle is advised as we must drive through a bit of the Santa Cruz River, a lush green area alive with egrets and herons.  We pass a feed lot and consider vegetarianism, and then the paved road becomes dirt, often washboard, and we see the remains of the Hotel Rockland off to the north.  A little further on, a right turn puts us at SASCO’s ruins.  We get out of our vehicles to wander and explore.

The dirt road gets even rougher if we go west, but shortly we see the flatlands and foundations of the company town on our left, not nearly as interesting as the smelter area.  Please remember that anything over 50 years old is legally considered an historic artifact and protected by law, so take pictures only.  What looks like old trash is part of an archaeological record that should not be disturbed.

A global flu epidemic put the nail in SASCO’s coffin in 1919.  Returning east towards I-10, we can turn left on another dirt road just past the Hotel Rockland and shortly arrive at a cemetery.  It is still in use, so please be respectful.  The road we return to Red Rock on was originally the railroad line that brought copper ore in, along with water and supplies, and took the processed copper out.

For a more adventurous trip, with four-wheel drive a really good idea, you can continue west past the SASCO ruins and end up on Silverbell Road.  This journey takes you close up to the sulfured mine tailings, with glimpses of mutant saguaros and a ruined landscape.  If you decide to visit Sasco,  please do so before the winter rains begin.

Well, maybe one little rant: Anyone favoring the Rosemont Mine should make this trip to see, close-up and personal, the mess open pit mining leaves behind.  Yeah, I know, but it’s just one little rant.

About Albert Vetere Lannon 103 Articles
Albert grew up in the slums of New York, and moved to San Francisco when he was 21. He became a union official and labor educator after obtaining his high school GED in 1989 and earning three degrees at San Francisco State University – BA, Labor Studies; BA, Interdisciplinary Creative Arts; MA, History. He has published two books of history, Second String Red, a scholarly biography of my communist father (Lexington, 1999), and Fight or Be Slaves, a history of the Oakland-East Bay labor movement (University Press of America, 2000). Albert has published stories, poetry, essays and reviews in a variety of “little” magazines over the years. Albert retired to Tucson in 2001. He has won awards from the Arizona State Poetry Society and Society of Southwestern Authors.