Southeastern Arizona has one of the most diverse mining localities in the state. Towns such as Bisbee, Clifton, Globe, Miami, Ray, Silverbell, and Superior have earned reputations as premier metal producers that are most notably known for their copper. Other mining towns that have made their marks in the region include Dos Cabezas, Gleeson, Harshaw District, Helvetia, Patagonia District, Pearce, Ruby, and Tombstone. Mining in southeastern Arizona has significantly influenced the development of mines in northern Sonora, Mexico. The foundation of Mexico's largest copper mine in Cananea was financed by American capital, specifically under the direction of miners and investors from southeastern Arizona. Overall, the process of mining has established the economy of southeastern Arizona, making it a viable source of copper-related minerals in the 21st century's global market.
The author shares his fascination with a distinctive corner of the country--Bisbee, Arizona--with a narrative that reflects the history of the area, the beauty of the landscape, and his own life
This impressive volume on Arizona mining covers many historical aspects from mines to minerals to transportation and extraction methods. Thousands of miles of railroads were built in Arizona to sustain mining operations that formed the crux of the territory's and later the state's economy. Hundreds of towns in Arizona owed their longevity or in many cases their ephemeral existence based upon the productivity of the local mines. Extensive mapping of the territory was undertaken, not specifically for settlement but for mineral discoveries and for ensuring the ease of extraction from the ground to the market. Mining captivated the Native Americans, Spanish, Mexicans and later the great influx of American miners and pioneers who arrived in Arizona after the Gadsden Purchase of 1854. Since then, Arizona's economy and community has greatly benefited from mining enterprises resulting in heightened employment opportunities both mining related and supported along with an improved infrastructure of roads, railroads, bridges and dams, hospitals, schools, cultural and civic centers. Mining has also influenced state tourism and recreation as many of the forest service roads and highways were built for the purpose of connecting mines to refining facilities and on to market. Tourist destinations including the towns of Ajo, Bisbee, Jerome and Prescott, would not have their aesthetically appealing store fronts and town layout were it not for revenue generated from the local mining operations. Gem and mineral shows across the state including the annual Tucson Gem & Mineral Show and the Quartzite Show generate millions of dollars directly benefiting the hospitality industry and local and regional attractions. Over 250 mining related images appear in this volume to represent Arizona's place as one of the great mining centers and mineral producers in the world. This volume is a compilation of 105 articles published under the heading of "Mine Tales", a Monday column in the Arizona Daily Star. Broken down into three physiographic provinces, Arizona has a diverse mineral content that has enabled it to be at the forefront of the mining industry in the United States and the world. 9 x 12 inches, 160 pages.
Los Angeles is a city of dualities--sunshine and noir, coastline beaches and urban grit, natural beauty and suburban sprawl, the obvious and the hidden. Both Sides of Sunset: Photographing Los Angeles reveals these dualities and more, in images captured by master photographers such as Bruce Davidson, Lee Friedlander, Daido Moriyama, Julius Shulman and Garry Winogrand, as well as many younger artists, among them Matthew Brandt, Katy Grannan, Alex Israel, Lise Sarfati and Ed Templeton, just to name a few. Taken together, these individual views by more than 130 artists form a collective vision of a place where myth and reality are often indistinguishable. Spinning off the highly acclaimed Looking at Los Angeles (Metropolis Books, 2005), Both Sides of Sunset presents an updated and equally unromantic vision of this beloved and scorned metropolis. In the years since the first book was published, the artistic landscape of Los Angeles has flourished and evolved. The extraordinary Getty Museum project Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 focused global attention on the city's artistic heritage, and this interest has only continued to grow. Both Sides of Sunset showcases many of the artists featured in the original book--such as Lewis Baltz, Catherine Opie, Stephen Shore and James Welling--but also incorporates new images that portray a city that is at once unhinged and driven by irrepressible exuberance. Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit Inner-City Arts--an oasis of learning, achievement and creativity in the heart of Los Angeles' Skid Row that brings arts education to elementary, middle and high school students.
The ghost towns of Southern California-some dramatic and nearly intact, others devastated-are well worth visiting. Most are remnants of once-colorful mining towns, though there are also railroad towns, a World War II relocation center, a promoter's swindle, and a failed socialist colony. Some excellent attractions remain. One of the best-preserved stamp mills in the West is in Skidoo. Smelters, homes, stores, and the remarkable wooden American Hotel can be found in Cerro Gordo, which the author calls "California's best true ghost town." Seasoned back-roads traveler Philip Varney, who has visited nearly a hundred ghost towns in the area, provides a down-to-earth and helpful guide to more than sixty of the best in Southern California and nearby Inyo and Kern counties. He defines a ghost town as a town with a population markedly decreased from its peak, one whose initial reason for settlement no longer keeps people there. It can be completely deserted, have a resident or two, or retain genuine signs of vitality, but Varney has eliminated those towns he considers either too populated or too empty of significant remains. The sites are grouped in four chapters in Inyo County, Death Valley, the Mojave Desert and Kern River, and the regions surrounding Los Angeles and San Diego. Each chapter provides a map of the region, a ranking of sites as "major," "secondary," and "minor," information on road conditions, trip suggestions, and tips on the use of particular topographic maps for readers interested in more detailed exploration. Each entry includes directions to a town, a brief history of that town, and notes on its special points of interest. Current photographs provide a valuable record of the sometimes fragile sites. Southern California's Best Ghost Towns will be welcomed both by those who enjoy traveling off the beaten path and by those who enjoy the history of the American West.
Holding the Line, Barbara Kingsolver's first non-fiction book, is the story of women's lives transformed by an a signal event. Set in the small mining towns of Arizona, it is part oral history and part social criticism, exploring the process of empowerment which occurs when people work together as a community. Like Kingsolver's award-winning novels, Holding the Line is a beautifully written book grounded on the strength of its characters. Hundreds of families held the line in the 1983 strike against Phelps Dodge Copper in Arizona. After more than a year the strikers lost their union certification, but the battle permanently altered the social order in these small, predominantly Hispanic mining towns. At the time the strike began, many women said they couldn't leave the house without their husband's permission. Yet, when injunctions barred union men from picketing, their wives and daughters turned out for the daily picket lines. When the strike dragged on and men left to seek jobs elsewhere, women continued to picket, organize support, and defend their rights even when the towns were occupied by the National Guard. "Nothing can ever be the same as it was before," said Diane McCormick of the Morenci Miners Women's Auxiliary. "Look at us. At the beginning of this strike, we were just a bunch of ladies."
This book tells the history of Superior, Arizona, from the years 1930 to 1950. Superior is located in the central part of the state just inside the southern boundary of the Tonto National Forest. The town was the home of the Magma mine, which was owned by the Magma Copper Company. The Magma mine was an underground, or “hard rock,” copper mine. It operated continuously from 1910 to 1982, was one of the most productive mines in US history, and also included a smelter, mill, and railroad. The book hermeneutically (interpretively) merges into a single narrative the oral histories of 15 persons who were born between 1923 and 1934 and lived in Superior during all or most of 1930 through 1950. The purpose of combining the contributions into a single story was to yield a thicker, more corroborated history of the town than otherwise would have been possible by presenting them separately. Supplementing the narrative are a (1) historiographical description of the town and mine, (2) sociological analysis of their relationship, the community’s solidarity, and the segregation experienced among Mexican, Caucasian, Native American, and African American residents, (3) description of the personal meaning of underground mining, and (4) review of methods.
