Copper Mining in Arizona

Arizona is just beautiful - even when it's being open-pit mined!  Arizona got it's name from a silver mine, the Arizonac, southeast of Nogales.  I hope you're sitting down to hear this, because that mine revealed silver nuggets weighing over a ton!  That's a jaw-dropper for sure!

The Summit open-pit mine near Payson, Arizona is a copper mine, but most of today's silver comes as a byproduct of copper processing, and Arizona is first in the nation for copper production and only fifth in the nation for the production of silver. 

The first copper mine in America was opened in Branby, Connecticut, in 1705, followed by one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1732.  By the 1840's, miners in Michigan were finding massive chunks of "float" copper weighing up to 1,000 tons!  These were torn off from rock by glaciers and "floated" in or on those glaciers to their present locations.   Back then, of course, there were no electronics, and copper was used mainly in making coins, cooking pots and as a sheathing on the bottom of ocean-going wooden ships.  It was also mixed with other metals to be used as bell metal and gun metal. Copper mining back east has pretty well wrapped up because they were doing deep shaft mining, and places like Arizona could do open-pit mining which was a way less expensive (and safer) way to get at the minerals.  Today the top five copper-producing states are Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and Montana with minor production coming from Alaska, Idaho and Missouri.

Edison's invention of the electric light in the 1870s created the use of copper in the electrical industry.

Woo-hoo!  The price for copper has increased from an average of $0.76 per pound in 2002, to $3.18 per pound today. 

The Summit

The Morenci open pit complex in Arizona is the largest copper mine in North America.

The Summit

Back in the day of black powder mining, miners staggered the timing of their explosions so they could listen to be sure all the holes had fired.  Black powder was sorta unstable and the charges didn't necessarily always go off as timed.  By the 1880's dynamite had replaced black powder charges.

I suppose the multitude of colors means a multitude of minerals, eh?  Copper isn't ordinarily found all by itself.  It is usually chemically bonded with other things like sulfur, gold, silver, nickel, etc.  They use the colors of other minerals to "name" the copper ore:  Copper pyrite is yellow in appearance, cuprite copper is red, malachite is green, azurite is blue... 

Once excavated from the open pit mine it goes through a process to "concentrate" it, sometimes onsite and sometimes at a processing plant.  It is crushed into smaller chunks and then going first through a rod mill and then a ball mill which takes it down to .01 inch diameter.  That stuff is mixed with a slurry of chemicals that attach to the copper particles.  Pine-oil or long-chain alcohol is added as a "frother" and the copper clings to the bubbles as they rise to the surface.  The frother causes the slurry to overflow the tanks and the thick layer of bubbles that has formed on the top is pour into troughs.  Eventually the water is drained from the bottom and now you have about 35% pure copper mixed with other minerals.  Only then is it ready for the smelting which results in 99% purity.

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It's Snowing!

Yea!  It's December 4th, and there are snow flurries outside!  The radar shows snow circling all around Kingman - but that's because there are mountains encircling Kingman.  We're in the valley in the center which is why we get the wintery mix but are surrounded by snow.

When I took Granpa to work this morning, occasionally I would see a car covered in snow, and I know that that person lives up on the mountain!

The thermometer says it's 35, but the lack of humidity makes it feel like 25.  (I got news for those "feels like" people:  in Kingman it doesn't feel cold at all.) 

Granpa is off tomorrow - and for seven more days - and we're hoping to go to the Grand Canyon because it is seriously snowing up there!  Expect photos soon!!

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Movin' On Into The Tonto National Forest

We move on from the giant crested saguaro (it seems to be waving good-bye to us!) up Arizona Highway 77 through Oracle and Winkelman, through yet another range of mountains and the Needles Eye Wilderness Area toward Globe and Central Heights.  We switch first to Hwy 188 and then onto 288 and into the Salt River Canyon, ever more beautiful, ever more enchanting, staying to the east and following scenic routes...

Again we wonder why folks stay on the Interstates and then come home from vacationing to say, eh, there wasn't much to see...  I also used to tell our sons to use their "vast and vivid imaginations," watch for Indians on the warpath, look for bears and coyote, see if they can find a wagon train or at least a wagon road...

Now this is Arizona!  I think the whole state is beautiful!  On the surface it seems arid and forbidding, but it has a myriad of oasis's, rivers, and underground aquifers.  This is the Salt River which is known for it's wild rafting.  Throughout the 52 miles of river rapids you will find places like Baptism, Kiss n Tell, Maytag, Overboard, Exhibition, Mescal Falls, Black Rock, Quartzite Falls, Rat Trap and Ledges.  You can go for a half day raft trips, or as long as five days in what some refer to as "the other canyon" in Arizona.  I do believe, if I was an unencumbered youngster lookin' for a job, I'd move to Arizona and become a river rafting tour guide!  Do not let this photo fool you!  Some of those rapids are Class III and Class IV rapids.  That means, on the International Scale of River Difficulty: 

Class III: Difficult	Waves numerous, high, irregular; rocks; eddies; rapids with passages clear though narrow, requiring expertise in maneuvering; scouting  usually needed. Requires good operator and boat.
Class IV: Very difficult	Long rapids; waves high, irregular; dangerous rocks; boiling eddies; best passages difficult to scout; scouting mandatory first time; powerful and precise maneuvering required. Demands expert boatman and excellent boat and good quality equipment.

We are greeted at the Roosevelt Diversion Dam by a friendly, albeit prehistoric, lizard as Granpa stops for a potty break. (Personally, I think he just uses potty breaks as another chance for photo ops when we're on these scenic by-ways...)

The lake looks small, but it is a long, long way away from where we're standing on the side of the road.  It has 22,000 surface acres of water and 112 miles of shoreline.  At an elevation of over 2,000 feet above sea level, the temperature is mild even in the summertime.  It's almost 23 miles long and just about 2 miles wide.  So, take the rapids and then chill on the shoreline! 

If you like our blog, you can "subscribe" for free by clicking on the broadcast icon at the top right corner or by bringing out the right hand toolbar and clicking on that icon at the bottom of the list.  It will put that icon on your toolbar at the top of your browser screen.  I try to post every day - it'd be a shame for you to miss one!  On your iPhone, you can create an app by "adding to home screen," bookmark it, or add it to your Reading List, share it on Twitter or Facebook.  Any way you do it, it's free!

Crested Saguaro

Feeling a good bit of disappointment (and I'm sorry I encouraged Granpa to take the time out of his visit to Sedona to make a run through here), we hit the road again.

God is good, though, all the time!  This scenic route is truly scenic - probably made more so by the disappointment of the National Park.  However, I always enjoy learning, so the Park wasn't a total loss.

We're rollin' down the highway, and all of a sudden I holler out, "Stop, stop."  Well, Granpa never, ever slams on the brakes.  (Good for him!)  When he manages to safely pull to a stop on the shoulder of this two lane highway in the middle of nowhere I convince him that I am convinced that I saw a crested saguaro.  Thinking it was only a few hundred feet back that I said, "Stop!" he puts it in reverse (he's an excellent reverse-er) and runs back a couple hundred feet.  I'm straining my eyeballs out but just not seeing what I saw.  Again, we are in the middle of nowhere - which is good because there is no traffic coming or going.  Granpa continues on in reverse.

Finally I surrender, and admit I must have been wrong.  (Golly.  How many more times am I going to impose on Granpa's good humor??)  As we shift our eyes forward we see a wonderful bird of prey (an Osprey maybe?) on a telephone/power pole and Granpa stops for a photo op:

My eyes are still intent on looking for that crested saguaro ... and there it is!  Just hangin' out on the side of the road - a crested saguaro!!  Isn't it amazing !?!

God is so very, very good - all the time! 

Personally, I think that God put that Osprey on that pole at that moment in time so that I could find that crested saguaro!

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Saguaro National Park

So, on our way to Tombstone I saw the saguaro.  When we got really close to Tucson, I saw an exit sign for one of the two Saguaro National Parks.  I'm thinkin', Mother Lode!!  Unbeknownst to Granpa, Tombstone just became a sideshow!  But we're spending the night in Tombstone, so we have to push on and set up our campsite.

We do the Tombstone thing, and it was truly fascinating.  I'd go back in a heartbeat because we didn't get to do nearly half of the stuff that was offered.  I want to go back and visit Geronimo's Stronghold - even if I have to get there on horseback. (Break my heart!)

Granpa wants to go home by way of Sedona, so we take a scenic route out the east side of Tucson and discover the other Saguaro National Park.  Gotta go!!

I have to tell you that I don't think I have ever been disappointed by a National Park - until then.  I'm thinkin' that, since the place has been set aside for a hundred years, I'm expecting a literal forest of giant saguaro.  Not happenin'.

Granpa is being so-o-o-o nice and tryin' his best to find some decent ones - or at least healthy ones - to take pictures of.  We do the whole Cactus Forest Drive and stop at every interpretive sign, but by the end of the road we are both very glad that, with our Senior Pass, the entrance fee was free.  This is about the best photo he got:

Our literature says that in the early 1900's this area had the most spectacular stand of saguaros in Arizona.  Something tells me the NPA management failed pretty miserably, huh?  (Or was it the fact that Tucson came in and stole all of the ground water??)  And regrowing it at a 1/4" a year is gonna take some time!  No magic bullets on this one, no mega-buck solution here.  I'm not even sure that  fertilizer would help.

But because we came here, we learned about a pretty special kind of saguaro:  the crested saguaro.
"Though these crested saguaros are somewhat rare, over 25 have been found within the boundaries of the park. Biologists disagree as to why some saguaros grow in this unusual form. Some speculate that it is a genetic mutation. Others say it is the result of a lightning strike or freeze damage. At this point we simply do not know what causes this rare, crested form."

We also learned that the saguaro blossom is the State Wildflower of Arizona, 

a saguaro without "arms" is called a spear, the largest known saguaro is the Campion Saguaro in Maricopa County, Arizona standing a little over 45 feet tall, bats are mammals (I knew that!) and the amino acids in the pollen appear to help sustain lactation in bats (that's cool), harming a saguaro is against state law in Arizona, the spines of this cactus are sometimes used as a sewing needle by the Tohono O'odham Indians, and there are no wild saguaros anywhere in the western U.S. states of Texas, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, or Nevada - not even in the high deserts of northern Arizona!  It is native only to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains and Imperial County areas of California.  So the trip was worth it, but the Lord always has a surprise waiting in the wings for us...

If you like our blog, you can "subscribe" for free by clicking on the broadcast icon at the top right corner or by bringing out the right hand toolbar and clicking on that icon at the bottom of the list.  It will put that icon on your toolbar at the top of your browser screen.  I try to post every day - it'd be a shame for you to miss one!  On your iPhone, you can create an app by "adding to home screen," bookmark it, or add it to your Reading List, share it on Twitter or Facebook.  Any way you do it, it's free!