The Queen Mine

Mining was the industry that brought people in droves to southeastern Arizona. Tombstone had a large silver mine. Down the road another mountain town called Bisbee had a large mining operation, too. In Bisbee, Papa and I donned our hard hats and miner’s lights to learn about a miner’s life inside an old mine.  

We were fortunate to have another great tour guide. Steve had been a miner in this very mine for over six years! The mine was in operation for over 100 years and mined several different minerals. 

Steve told and showed us how the early miners manually created the holes for the dynamite. He explained the array of holes the miners created with precision. How the dynamite was loaded into the holes and the fuses cut to specific lengths in order to assure all 25 explosions occurred in perfect order. The miners had to count the explosions to make sure every dynamite stick had detonated. A live stick would not play well with their picks as the miners worked to load the mineral-laden rock into the mine carts. 

The loaded mine carts weighed 500 lbs. A young miner had to push those carts up the 500 plus feet of mine shaft. Soon mules were trained to pull the carts out. They would pull 4 larger carts weighing 1000 lbs  each. Those mules lived underground in the mine for up to three years at a time. 

Along with facts, Steve shared stories of how the miners pulled pranks on one another. He obviously loved his days mining even though it was extremely hard work. 

Here’s the amazing fact. These miners were working with dynamite every day. They were underground. They used candlelight/lanterns in the early days. There were so many things that could have gone wrong. Yet in over 100 years of mining, there were just over 300 deaths. Remember Tombstone? There were 300 deaths in six years. Hum?  I think Bisbee was a safer place to be. More on Bisbee tomorrow. 

Learn more: https://www.queenminetour.com/History