Bisbee AZ

We took a Jeep tour around the historic mining town of Bisbee. Unfortunately the driver did not allow us 
to get out to take pictures! So there are only a 
few I got through the plastic window.

Our Tour Jeep.  Lavender Tours is named for the Lavender Mine after the man who discovered the vast deposits of very rich copper ore here.

The gray colored material is the copper ore in the open pit mine in Bisbee. The pit is currently idle, but locals hope it will reopen soon as copper prices have recently soared. The pit is 1000 feet across at the top and nearly 1000 feet deep.  Many millions of dollars in copper have been mined here since the 1880s.

 

Bisbee grew up on the slopes of the Mule Mountains  near the various mines. Today the narrow streets wind their way around many of the houses, but many must be accessed by seemingly endless stairs.  

The relatively new house at the top of the hill can be seen here and in the previous photo.  There is no street or road access to this house.  All building materials were carried by hand up the stairs in the foreground!  The residents must park their cars at the bottom and walk home every day.

 

Called the Pythian Castle, this building was the center for the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization popular after the Civil War.

Another view of Bisbee Arizona.

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One of many sets of stairs seemingly rising to the sky in Bisbee.

This is the view are looking from near the top of the canyon down into the town.  Believe it or not, the price of these tiny houses on small lots and with no parking or no easy access is at least a quarter million dollars and some are much more!