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?How living the faces were, and how eloquent the postures, of the miners who stood or sat waiting for the bosses to get through. What things the vagrant inadequate light did to a brown cheek, a mustache, the whiteness of teeth, the shine of eyes looking out of their corners at her. It was like nothing she had ever drawn, a world away from the cider presses and sheepfolds and quiet lanes and farmyard scenes and pensive maidens of her published drawings, yet this scene, lurid and dimly fearful, spoke to her. She felt it as a painting of saints in a grotto, or the drinkers in a dark Dutch cellar. The curve of a shovel had the pewterish gleam of a Ten Eyck tankard, the very buttons on overalls had life.?
Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose
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Introduction
Arizona?s rich mineral deposits run diagonally across the state in a belt that is some 450 miles long and 70 miles wide. Stretching from the vicinity of Kingman to Bisbee, the area is considered by some scientists to be one of the most unique and complicated mineral regions in the world. Although some mining was done during the period when the Spanish Conquistadors explored the New World, it was not until the mid-1850s, however, that most visitors to the region understood the magnitude of the rich mineral lode that existed here. And then most prospectors regarded Arizona as little more than a crossing on the way to California?s gold. Only when the California Gold Rush died down did prospectors start looking east.
The first big Arizona strike occurred in 1857 when a placer gold deposit was discovered near the confluence of the Colorado River and Sacramento Wash. The next year started the first Arizona gold rush when gold was found at Gila City, about 20 miles up the Gila River from its junction at the Colorado River. About this same time, gold was also discovered at the Vulture Mine in Wickenburg and at mines in the Prescott area. A few years later, in 1862, gold was struck at La Paz. That mining camp quickly grew into town of 5,000 people, with merchants like the Goldwaters setting up shop to supply miners with equipment, clothing and food.
Following the Civil War, silver became king at a premium price. A significant deposit was discovered in Superior in 1873; more strikes were recorded around Globe. But when prospector Ed Schieffelin headed for southern Arizona to look for silver, he was warned, ?That?s Apache
country. You go out there and all you?ll find will be your tombstone.? The Tombstone mines turned out to be the biggest, grandest silver strike in the Southwest. These mines played out quickly however when they were destroyed by floods in 1886. Before they closed, however, the eleven major mines in the Tombstone area had yielded $30 million worth of silver and other precious metals and Tombstone became a town steeped in history.
Of all the precious metals mined in Arizona, copper proved to be the biggest bonanza. When traditional underground mining proved too costly to mine low grade ore, Dr. L.D. Ricketts, an engineer from Globe, helped pioneer the open pit method. Open pits were mined in Bisbee, Ray, Globe, Morenci, Ajo, Bagdad and Tucson. Today visitors can still tour some of them and ride or walk through underground mines. But mining is not an historic curiosity in Arizona. According to the Arizona Mining Association, the state leads the nation in copper production, accounting for 65 percent of the total U.S. mine production. In addition, Arizona ranks among the leaders in producing gemstones, molybdenum, silver and perlite. As of 2004, seventy-two mining companies operate 126 mines in the state. More than living history, mining is a source of revenue and pride for Arizona.
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