Bisbee...A Registered National Historic Landmark

Queen Mine RV Park

Bisbee, AZ

October 6, 2024

After the discovery of copper in the 1880s a prospector's camp was quickly established and by 1910, the town Bisbee was established.  

In those early years, Bisbee was the largest city between Houston and Los Angeles with a population of over 25,000 people.  When the mine closed in 1975, the real estate market in Bisbee collapsed and hundreds of homes went up for sale. The availability of cheap real estate drew retirees, hippies, and a new group of speculators who purchased the properties and slowly began to contribute to the renovation of the city.  

Main Street

The Bisbee of today is a well-known artist's community whose architectural and historic heritage has been and continues to be preserved.  Located in the center of the natural and historic beauty of Cochise County,  the city has become an ideal spot for tourism.  We enjoyed walking the streets, visiting with shop owners and as the sign boasts...Bisbee has the most perfect year-round climate making it a great place to visit or call home.  

In recognition of its architectural heritage, its role in Arizona's mining economy, and its notorious place in history, the 250-acre Bisbee Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and the 616-acre Bisbee Residential Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.   

There are 80 contributing buildings with various architectural styles listed in the National Register.  Most of them were built between 1895 to 1915.  

  

The Covenant Presbyterian Church, held its first service on April 5, 1903, had beautiful stained glass windows and a working pipe organ with pipes 16 feet tall that still adorn the church today.  

Main Street is lined with so many galleries. We saw artists at work,  gorgeous bricks, beautiful pottery and blown glass,  antiques, books, jewelry, and shops selling cheese, honey oils, and on and on. 

Rich Creek...Glass Blowing and Metal Works. 

Hats are sized and made to order on sight...

Local artists....

Built in 1895, this was the Phelps Dodge General Office...the company's headquarters for its local mining and smelting operations.

Joe and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Cafe Roka in the heart of the historic district.  Thank you Janna for the recommendation.  When I googled it, the restaurant was described as upscale and cozy.  It is dinner only, reservations only and open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Cafe Roka is located on Main Street. Pressure-fired bricks were relatively new in 1907 when the 35 Main Street building was constructed. Thanks to those bricks, it was spared from a fire that leveled much of the mining town in 1908.    

 

The building was first used as a Tavern. Today, over 100 years later, it is Bisbee's only 5 Star restaurant. 35 Main Street has two stories with dining (and a third story for dining and live jazz music on Saturday) and when the young lady took our reservation she asked did we mind climbing stairs...a quick "no" and Thursday night, found us on the second floor with a view...and a cozy setting.    

Chef Rod Kass came to Bisbee in 1990 for a visit and stayed.  He and his partner Sally Holcomb opened Cafe Roka in 1992.  

From Kass' passion for quality, locally sourced ingredients to the historic buildings art deco ambiance, a dinner at this upscale and cozy Bisbee original is an experience to remember. 

Our dinner date of culinary delights began with Smoked Salmon Flatbread served warm with blue cheese, citrus and herbs.  

Followed by a house salad with yummy honey, mustard vinegarette and followed by a pallet cleansing...citrus sorbet...before the main entry.  

We chose a seafood dish...shrimp, lobster ravioli, crab cake with seasonal roasted veggies, fresh basil, and saffron cream sauce for the entire.  And then there was dessert.  A chocolate caramel cheesecake and a cream brûlée.  

Joe was very patient with me as I took photos of our very memorable dinner. 

Back on the hill top, life is good!

A quick trip to ACE and Joe made a board that covers the stairs for Sally.  She doesn't see well and almost fell in the other morning.  It is reinforced and will not slide and its light enough to put it on and take it off when we go in and out the door.  

Until next time, 

HAPPY TRAILS!

Bisbee...our fun so far !

Queen Mine RV Park

Bisbee, AZ 

October 2, 2024

We are loving the early morning temps...a touch of fall in the air!

Copper Queen Mine Tour : Tuesday 

The story of Bisbee mining began in the late 1870s when Lt. Dunn (from the Army post  of Fort Hauchuca) was sent on a scouting expedition against the Apache Indians.  Lt. Dunn and his men spent the night near a spring in the Mule Mountains several yards from where todays Mine Tour begins.  

On a walk before dark, Dunn picked up several interesting rocks and took a prospector by the name of George Warren into his confidence and struck up a deal by which Warren would locate claims and work the property with Dunn as a partner.  

But, on his way to the site, Warren stopped to visit friends and enjoy his favorite "pastime"...drinking whiskey.  He soon had new partners and they staked a new group of claims and left Dunn out of the deal.  Copper production began in 1880 and by 1885, companies with capital gradually became involved and took over individual claims.  

The underground mines in Bisbee were closed in the summer of 1975. During the 90 years of production 3 billion pounds of copper, 102 million ounces of silver, and 2.8 million ounces of gold were mined there.  Copper Queen Mine was/is one of the world's largest underground mines with over 2,000 miles of tunnels. When the mine closed, Mayor Chuck Eads felt that the history of mining should be kept alive and in a manner that would attract tourists to the community.  Dedicated volunteers worked long days clearing boulders and re-timbering the old workings.  Local individuals and groups offered support and food for the workers...

Safety walls and benches were added by the volunteers...

...and in a few months, the Queen Mine Tour was officially opened to visitors on February 1, 1976.  

Everyone was fitted with a hard hat, a vest and a flashlight...

Since that time,  more than a million visitors from all 50 states and over 30 foreign countries have enjoyed the ride into the mountain on the underground mine tour train. 

The original entrance for Copper Queen Mine

Our guide for the morning was Steve.  All the guides are previous mine workers and Steve worked there for the last 9 years the mine was in operation.  He was a wealth of knowledge not only about his years of working there, but also about the history throughout the mines 90 years of operation.  He also entertained us with funny stories...  

We stopped and climbed a flight of stairs to this spot where Steve explained how copper was discovered.  

I cant imagine chiseling out the small tunnels to crawl thru...

Steve demonstrated how the chiseling was done.  Of course I don't think the miners had these nice floors to stand on. 

Looking up...beautiful copper  

At another stop we learned about drills, shoots, a unique four-wheeled bike, dynamite, and cages.  

The shoots were used to load copper from tunnels above the tracks.  The four-wheeled bike was made in the blacksmith shop at the mine and unique to Queen Mine.  It was used by the shift leaders as they had previously walked ten miles a day to check their two crews...once before lunch and once after lunch.   

  

The cage (a lift for miners) worked on a bell system...one to seven dings.  The only one I remember is 7 dings and that meant a fatality.  During the 90 years of operation, there were 386 fatalities, one of which was when Steve worked there. 

The potty...

Joe and I both agree that the Queen Mine Tour makes for a fun morning and if you enjoy history, it is a must do when in Bisbee.  And the added bonus for us... is at the bottom of the hill where we are spending the week.  

Back on the hilltop, life is good.

The early morning view from Belle's front window.

Historic Bisbee from our side yard...

And Sallybear...

Friends : Wednesday

We spent the morning on a small project in the MH...more on that later.  The highlight was meeting Jodee and Bill for lunch.  Jodee picked a great Mexican place...Los Hermanos and it was a perfect day for patio sitting, laughing, and reminiscing along with a yummy lunch.  Of course, sweet Tessa was there too and she has the bestest kisses.

Oh those eyes !

Good friends...Jodee, Bill, and Tessa
Thank you so much for meeting us in Bisbee for lunch!    

Stay tuned, there is more to come...until next time, 

HAPPY TRAILS!