Bisbee, AZ

March 12, 2017

We left Huachuca City for Bisbee, AZ on Sunday to a small private RV park (Queen Mine RV Park) on a bluff overlooking the Copper Queen Mine. Again it is a typical AZ RV park with rock and not much shade. The spaces are all back in and fairly close together. We are at an altitude of 5,538’ so it is cooler and breezier and in that we receive some relief from the 80-degree heat. The breeze is nice, but the wind is just a bit much some time. The RV park is a 5-minute walk to Old Bisbee.

History

Bisbee was founded as a copper, gold and silver mining town in 1880, and named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the adjacent Cooper Queen Mine.

In 1929, the county seat was moved from Tombstone to Bisbee, where it remains.

Mining in the Mule Mountains proved quite successful: in the early 20^th century the population of Bisbee soared. Incorporated in 1902, by 1910 its population swelled to 9,019. In 1917, open pit mining was successfully introduced to meet the copper demand during WWI.

A high quality turquoise promoted as Bisbee Blue was a by-product of the copper mining. Many high quality mineral specimens have come from Bisbee area mines and are to be found in museum collections worldwide. Some of these minerals include: Cuprite, aragonite, wulfenite, malachite, azurite, and galena.

Miners attempted to organize to gain better working conditions and wages. In 1917, the Phelps Dodge Corporation, using private police, transported at gun point over 1,000 striking miners out of town to Hermanas, NM, due to allegations that they were members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW): the company wanted to prevent unionization. Earlier that year, industry police conducted the Jerome Deportation, a similar event to expel striking miners.

Continued underground work enabled the town to survive changes in mining. Neighboring towns had mines that closed, with a resulting dramatic loss of population. By 1950, the population of Bisbee had dropped to less than 6,000. In 1975 the Phelps Dodge Corporation halted its Bisbee copper-mining operations.

The economic volatility resulted in a crash in housing prices and coupled with an attractive climate and picturesque scenery, Bisbee became a destination in the 1960’s for artists and hippies of the counter culture.

Today, the historic city of Bisbee is known as “Old Bisbee” and is home to a thriving downtown cultural scene. This area is noted for it architecture, including Victorian-style houses and an elegant Art Deco county courthouse. Because its plan was laid out to a pedestrian scale before the automobile, Old Bisbee is compact and walkable.

Old Bisbee

Since it is a pedestrian town with narrow streets, Patti and I took our tour of “Old Bisbee” on Tuesday at 9:00am.

We had taken a drive through the day before around noon, thinking we would have lunch in this quaint town – NO WAY!!! There was no place to park our big Toyota truck on the narrow streets, and besides, every parking spot was taken. We asked the manager of the RV park what time was good to get a space to park and she said “9AM”. Yes, it is a 5-minute walk to town but Patti cannot walk there and back with her knee condition so taking the truck was our only option.

Walking the streets of Old Bisbee at 9AM was wonderful for a couple of reasons: First, it was cool and one side of the street was always in the shade (a huge benefit for me); and second, there was not much car or pedestrian traffic since most stores do not open till 10AM, therefore not interfering with most of my photo ops.

The hippie counter culture is still alive and well in this colorful town. The town is actually a blend of hippie and colorful Mexican motif. The buildings are vivid, some abstract, some whimsical, some historical and some downright dilapidated. Most of the business shops are narrow, long and crammed into narrow, curvy streets some without sidewalks – it’s a good thing the speed limit through town is only 15 mph. One street we drove down, a one-way, thank goodness, we had about 6” on either side of the truck mirrors, glad it was a one-way street!!!

I came across a vintage bicycle store (Bisbee Bicycle Brothel) and found my next touring bike: It had saddle bags on the back, a holder for tea – pop/beer can holder, 2 water bottle holders, a flask on the handle bar, a front rack, and a flashlight for night riding (all fashioned out of leather and color coordinated) – Now that’s what I call touring!!! I also bought a rear view mirror for my bike that fits on the inside of my glasses; I’ll let you know how it works out. All in all, there are a bunch of very creative, artistic and eccentric people that live here. There was one bumper sticker in the bike store that read: “Bisbee is like Mayberry on Acid”. That bumper sticker pretty much sums up Old Bisbee.

There is a “Free Wall” along one winding street. It is the remains of a building foundation wall and the town has allowed local artists to paint whatever they wish on the wall – a “hippy collage”, if you will. Patti and I later toured up and down various streets and every now and then I would jump out and snap a photo. I will say, there is no other graffiti in the town!

On Tuesday evening I walked down to the town to experience the nightlife of this amazing town. Patti did not venture out with me because of her knee, which was too bad for the night was spectacular. The sun goes behind the canyon wall about 4:30pm releasing the heat of the day to the sky. The nightlife is very much alive after dusk. There were people sitting on balconies enjoying a chat and a drink, couples moseying along the streets and young people ‘cruzin” in their souped-up cars up and down the main drag at 2 miles per hour with Rap music that could be felt down the block. Cruzing was something I did at 16 years old – well, again, a throwback to the hippie era, as I am…

The streets were well lit with Christmas lights strung across some of the roads, the hotels fashionably illumined and Batman even made an appearance. Too bad I didn’t bring any money for one bar was advertising Guinness for St. Patrick’s Day. Ah, another day…

We discovered a Vietnamese restaurant “Thuy’s” and we had a delicious lunch: Patti had Chicken Noodle Soup and I had Vegan Vegetable Soup. So if you’re ever in Bisbee it is a must eat at place… But be sure you go on the off-peak hours because the place is small (3 individual tables, one community table that seats about 8 people, and a counter seating for two), or take your food to go and eat in the park. The place fills up fast and as it is small the noise level increases as it populates. Excellent, fresh, plentiful servings delicately spiced…

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will visit Our Lady of the Sierras Shrine in Hereford, AZ, a 30-minute drive from Bisbee.

FYI the last post “On the Road Again” contained no pictures.