April 1998 Number2
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HISTO Volume9 April 1998 Number2 BisbeeBound The Bisbee Chamber of Commerce Tombstone flyer was included as part of the last Mason Coggin, Carrie Gustavson and newsletter. They can provide further Besidesour eventsat Bisbee,we will Gary Dillard have been busy putting the assistance by calling 520-432-5421. alsohave a dayin Tombstone,the center finishing toucheson our Ninth Annual Also, if you are interestedin staying of oneof thelast big silverrushes, better Mining History Conferenceat Bisbee, longer in Arizona or wish to use a Bed known today for events at a corral. June4-7. We have a full four days of & Breakfast reservation service we When Hollis Cook, managerof the events, talks, tours. and good social recommendMI CASA SU CASA, P. O. TombstoneCourthouse State Historic activities. Hope to seeyou there. Box 950, Tempe,AZ 85280-0950or call Parkheard of our conferencehe offered Enclosed in this newsletter is the 602-990-0682(reservations l -800-456- to roll out the carpetto attractour group reglstration sheet and details on when 0682). to spendtime in the "Town too Toughto and where eventsoccur. As in the past Die." we have planned for approximately 100 Thanks Thanksto Hollis andhis staffwe will participants. but rumor has it thar we begin registration at Tombstone on will exceedthat number. So, please We are fortunate to have the Phelps Thursdaymorning at the courthouse,an registerearly to ensurea seatat the table Dodge Corporation,who's mining roots easyto spot brick Victorianstructure at or on the bus. go backto 1880Bisbee, as a sponsorof Toughnutand Third streets. We have We will not only explore mining someof this year's evenrs. They have also been offered a discount to the history at an excellentselection ofpapers been good friends to mining historians, ASARCO Mineral DiscoveryCenter. and sessions,but will explore the old either through the foresight to donate There are many attractions,but worth town and its workings, including under pastrecords to the University of Arizona the visit are the courthouse,Bird Cage ground at the Copper QueenMine Tour. for the use of scholarsor the continued Theater, C. S. Fly photo studio, Our Friday night banquetwill be at the support of research, writing and Tombstone Epitaph newspaper, and mlne so, please,dress like a westerner publicationsabout Arizona's mining past. CrystalPalace Saloon. (casual). Thanks too to Robert Trennert, The bus to Cananea.N{exico is a real Homer Milford, and Erik Nordberg as treat. It is a major copper.operarion, this year's program committee. We with smelterat work. Travel to Mexico have a full and interestingagenda. is easy, but all membersof the MHA But, most importantly, thanksto our tour will need a photo Identification local arrangementscommittee, Mason (drivers license or passport). We Coggin, Carrie Gustavson,Gary Dillard recommend you bring a backpack of and others in Bisbee,who have worked snacksand water, though we will be well on the details of the conference. We fed in Mexico and upon return that willuse theBisbee Mining andHistorical eveningat the TurquoiseValley Country Museum, Carrie Gustavson.director. in Club nearBisbee. the heart of town as our center for We want to remind you, again, that information and registration. Do say hi the former copper camp has become an to Carrie and friends at the museum, attractive getaway and that early hotel who will be providing coffee, donuts, reservatronsare a must. and a smiie. N{ining History News President'sPage apparent suicide. A major stock Memorial exchangeis severaltimes shut down by Recentlya colleaguepersuaded me not to the frenzied sell off in which investors RussellR. Elliott, first vice-president write a mining history book on a lose vast amounts of moneY. Will and second president of the Mining contemporarysubject. He argued that Clarence King come riding over the History Association,died March 16, readers reject anything that iacks the mountain slope on his mule to expose 1998in Reno.Nevada. He was 85. romantic charm of the nineteenth anothergreat diamond swindle, ashe did Russwas an early supporter of theMHA century. For the moment,at least,I am in 1872. No, I'm sureyou guessedthis and lent his name, guiding hand, and dissuaded.But I'm convincedthat when one. It's the Bre-X scandalof 1997, friendshipduring the first yearsof the the recent past acquires a sufficiently involving a fictitious gold deposit in organization.Because of ill healthin antiquepatina, the mining historiansof Busang,Indonesia, investor losses of $3 recentyears he wasunable to attendour the future will haveas good a time as we billion, and the mysterious death of annualgatherings or be as active as he did with the nineteenthcentury. Let's geologistMichael de Guzman. wished. considera recentsampling: Did anyone say that mining history He is best known to membersas The raceto mine rich depositsresults has turned into mere description of professorof historyat the Universityof in chaos and marathon battles between technologicaladvances? lt's as dramatic Nevada,Reno, where he taught for armed gangs. Outgunned government today as it was more than a hundred twenty-eightyears, and as author of a officials make no attempt to exert years ago. numberof exemplarymining histories. control. Lawlessness and violence I look forward to seeingeveryone in The list includes:The History of Ffty spread, working conditions are Bisbee. Yearsof Mining at Tonopah(1953); shockingly harsh. but miners pour ln Sally Zanjani Nevada's Twentieth-CenturyMining hoping for quick wealth. Sounds like Reno, Nevada Boom-- Tonopah,Golfield, Ely (1966); Pioche in the early 1870s doesn't it? History of Nevada (1973); Servantof Actually, its the gold rush in Qinghai Readings Power,A Political Biographyof Senator provincein westernChina, 1995. WilliamM. Stewart( 1983);and Growing A small rebel band in the mountains Individuals new to the Southwest or Up in a CompanyTown, A FamilYin the survivesby mining gold, which they use unfamiliar with its history haveasked for CopperCamp of McGill, Nevada(1990), to bribe soldiers sent to extermlnate some suggestedreadings on Bisbeeand an autobiographicallook at early- them. As the rebellion gathersstrength, environs. The following list is a start: twentiethcentury Nevada. mining companies selze upon the Carlos A. Schwantes, ed., Bisbee, His gentle manner made him an advantageous terms offered by rebel Urban Outposton the Frontier (Tucson: approachable member of our leaders to friendly investors. The Universityof Arizona Press,1992) in a organization,and his positiveremarks to government falls. Did it haPPen in large format book with a fabulous younger members was alwaYs nineteenth century South America? collection of photographsand essaysby appreciated.His knowledgeof Nevada Wrong it's the rebellion led bY known scholars.including Clark Spence, mining history was unexcelledand he Laurent Kabila to unseatthe government Schwantesand Tom Vaughn, Bisbee's willingly sharedinformation and gave of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire major eventsare highlighted. suggestions. culminatingin the 1990s. Richard Shelton, Going Back Io While constructinga road to a mine, Bisbee (Tucson: University of Arizona, a mining surveyor and geologist is 1992)is a well-written non-tiction travel The Mining History Association ambushedand killed in a gunfight with and interpretive review of the modern Newsletter three attackers. The owner of the landscapewith commentsabout the past. Denver,Colorado adjoining property is beiievedconnected C. L. Sonnichsen,Colonel Greene with the murder. Was it hangtown in and the Copper Skvrocket (Tucson: Distributedto associationmembers; the bad old days of the Californiagold Universityof ArizonaPress, 1972) is the membershipis opento all interested rush? No. it's the death of Nevadan studyof Cananea'sbeginnings. in thehistory of mining.Dues are $25 GeorgeWilson in Limones,Honduras in lsabel S. Fathauer, Lemuel S. per year. Pleasesend dues to MHA, I 998. Shattuck, A Little Mining, A Little Post Office Box 150300,Denver, New testsfail to uncovera trace of Banking, A Little Beer (Tucson: Colorado80215. value in a deposit trumpeted as the Westernlore,1991) provides a biography Submissionsfor publication in the richest discovery in a generation, of one of the other non-PhelpsDodge newsletterare welcome. Write to perhapsa century. A geologist closely mining men of Bisbee and Cochise RobertL. Spude,Editor. connected with the attair dies, an County. JUNE 4 THARSDAY 8am-2pm. Registration at the Tombstone Courthouse State Park, Tombstone, Arizona Tour The Town to Tough to Die MHA members discount to ASARCO MIneraI Discovery Center Follow suggestedghost town trail drives to Bisbee 3pm-5pm. Registratiort st Bisbee Mining & Historicul Museum, Bisbee, Arizona 6pm-8pm Welcoming Reception, Copper City Brewery Company in Copper Queen Plaza, across the street from the museum. Welcome by Phelps Dodge TUNE 5, FRIDAY 8am-5pm Registration at Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum 8:30am and I1:30am Walking tours of Bisbeeund museum l2:00 Lunch at Copper Queen Plaza (Convention Center) Speaker: Curlos Schwantes, "The Many lnndscapes of Phelps Dodge" AII Sessionsat Presbytwrian Annex l:30-2:50om, Sessiolt1: Arizona Mining Through the Years, Chair: Sally Tnnjani Anna Domitrovic, "The King is Dea.d, Lang Live the King: A Personalized History of the Kofa Mining District of SouthwesternArizona" Mason Coggin, "Roots of the Calumet and Arizonu" Richard Graeme, "The Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, 1885-1917:A History of the Company and its Employees"