Queen Copper Mine

Friday, 14 December

A cold morning.  As the low temperature was about 25 degrees, we were happy not to have to worry about freezing as we were winterized.  Only a minor inconvenience.

Initially a sunny morning, which helped to warm things up a bit.  Being cold, we were in no hurry to venture out, especially since our first destination of the day was across the street.

The RV Park and Golf Course used to be a combined operation.  There are still billboards advertising “stay and play golf for free” which is no longer true.  Don’t know what happened, we did not ask why.  About 10am, it got warm enough to start getting ready to play golf.  We elected to walk to help us stay warm.  It had gotten partly cloudy, and a breeze had come up, making it feel chilly.  We hit on the range for a while, and about the time we were ready, there were two ladies groups heading out.  We decided it would be best to follow them so we would know where to go as we did not have a layout of the course.

The course was typical of the desert courses we have been playing, with hills in the distance.

Kris opened strong and Darrell struggled with three double bogeys on the first three holes.  Kris was up several strokes after a few holes, then Darrell came on strong at the end of the first nine holes, including a beautiful 20 yard flop shot for birdie on the 8th hole.  At the turn, Darrell was up by two strokes.  Kris got that determined look in her face.  She had been bombing her tee shots all day, and got her short game in gear.  On the back nine, she had 6 pars and a birdie.  Darrell also played well, but a bogey on the last hole left us tied at 81 a piece for the day.

The course was interesting in that they really, really wanted you to stay on the course as there was wildlife to be encountered in the desert.

The course also had a par 6 on the back nine that was 646 yards from the gold tees, and 620 yards from the ladies tees.  Despite that, we both bogeyed the hole, largely because of unfamiliarity with how to play the dogleg near the hole.  We both would have played our approach shots differently had we known where the hole was.

By walking the course, we got over 6 miles of walking in.  We finished just after 2pm, having played in about 3 hours.  The ladies group was impressed with how quickly we played.  Part of our speed was we both played very well (fewer strokes), neither of us lost any balls, and were both hitting well.

Being done at 2:30 created a bit of a dilemma.  For the three hours we were playing, we were within sight of the Starbucks we visited yesterday.  Officially, no one had to buy since we tied.  But if we stopped at Starbucks, we would not be able to do the Queen Copper Mine tour today.  We opted for the mine tour.  A good choice.

The Queen Copper Mine was turned into an underground mine tour in 1976 as a way to revitalize Bisbee with the shutdown of mining operations.  The tour guides were people with actual mine experience in the Bisbee area.  We donned mining hard hats, reflective vests and LED Mine lights as part of the required gear.

The Queen Copper Mine is one of 7 mines, and at one point, we actually entered an adjacent mine where they were connected.  The tour takes you 1,500 feet into the mine on the actual man-car that miners used to enter and exit the mine.  

We learned that there were over 50 miles of track in the mine.  Part of what made the Queen Copper Mine special was the high grade copper.  It was considered a Bonanza mine - up to 40% copper in the ore.  The mine also yielded gold, silver, and lead.  We learned that turquoise is low grade copper ore.  

Life underground was a tough life.  Dark, noisy, and dangerous.  Apparently the pay was enough to lure many a man to the mines.  No women worked the mines - apparently the miners thought it was bad luck for women to be inside a mine.

A fascinating tour.  We are so glad we got to do it.  Pictures just can not do it justice, however, another RV couple (full-timing in a Roadtrek Zion SRT, smaller than Sprinty) recently visited and vlogged about their experience:

After the tour, we headed north to Tombstone to stay at the Tombstone RV Park, located north of Tombstone, AZ.  There were two RV parks located in town, but the reviews for both indicated the spaces were very close to each other.  Too close.  We were warmly greeted at check in, and provided great info for experiencing Tombstone.  The RV Park also has a free shuttle into town.  And the staff answered every question we normally have before we could ask.  We were so impressed, that as soon as we parked Sprinty, I walked back to the office and added a second night.