ANNIE M„ COX RARY UNIV. OF ARIZONA • : b b a • b • ::: HISTORY OF BISBEE o 1877 T 1937 by Annie M. Cox A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of o Master of Arts in the Graduate College University of Arizona 1938 : Approved: 7Y , W-4•(-,4-6U7-41 °S::=2_9 'Adviser Date : CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I. BISBEE; THE PLACE OF TEE PROSPECTOR Ore Discovered, Early Mining Claims Located, First Smelter Built 1 John Dunn, government scout 1 Rucker Mine located, August 2, 1877 7 George Warren, prospector 3 Mercy Mine and other claims located, 1877 5 Halcro Mine located, December 14, 1877 6 The first smelter built, April, 1878 7 Dramatic Events in the life of George Warren 7 George Warren, a dramatic character 7 The Warren-Atkins footrace 8 Warren's insanity 9 Warren's last mining venture and his declining years 10 Copper queen and Copper King Yining Claims; Sale and Division of Claims 12 An Infant Mining Camir 14 CHAPTER II. BISBEE: THE RISE OF THE CORPORATION 15 Western and Eastern Capitalists in Bisbee 15 Sale of the Copper queen Mine to Martin, Ballard, and Reilly; Organization of the Copper imieen Mining Company, 1880 15 Mining and Smelting operations, 1880 19 The Neptune Mining Company, 1880 to 1881 20 The Town of Bisbee 21 Town and post office established, August, 1880 21 Industrial, political, and social activities 24 Unwritten law prohibiting Chinese 25 Cochise County created, February 1, 1881 25 Bisbee, 1881, a thriving frontier town 27 Bisbee School District No, 2 28 The first school in Bisbee, October, 1881 29 The first Christmas celebration in Bisbee 32 Page The Growing Mining Industry 32 The Copper Queen, the most active mining company in the district 32 Great orebody uncovered on Copper Queen Hill, 1881 32 The Atlanta Mining Company 33 Dr. James Douglas 34 Character and ability 35 Birth, parentage, education, and early achieve- ments 35 Dr. Douglas in Bisbee, December, 1880; Copper Queen Mine visited early in 1881 36 Atlanta Mine purchased for Phelps Dodge and Com- pany, 1881 37 Three year development campaign on the Atlanta, 1881 to 1884 39 The Arizona Prince Copper Company and the Law of the Apex 40 The Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, 1885... 43 CHAPTER III. BISBEE: THE WILD WEST TOWN 44 Murders of the Early Eighties 45 First murder in Bisbee, August, 1880 45 Peter Hogan killed, February, 1881 45 James Woods killed, March, 1881 46 Samuel McFarland murdered, October, 1881 47 Frank Stahle shot accidentally, May, 1882 48 Buford-Everett Feud, June, 1882 48 The Bisbee Robbery, September, 1882 50 John Conolly killed, January, 1883 51 The Bisbee Massacre, December 8, 1883 51 Goldwater and Cas taneda Store, the bank of the town 53 Goldwater and Castaneda Store held up and robbed; five people massacred 54 Billy Daniels and posse in pursuit of the outlaws; arrest of John Heith 58 Assistance of the Copper Queen Yining Company in the capture of the bandits 61 Daniel Kelly captured in New Mexico 61 Owen W. Sample and James Howard captured near Clifton, Arizona 62 Daniel Bowed captured in Mexico by Billy Daniels 63 William Delaney captured in Mexico 65 The six outlaws imprisoned in Tombstone 66 Trial of the Bisbee Massacre cases, February 8, 1884 66 John Heith's verdict unsatisfactory 68 Page John Heith hanged by a mob, February 22, 1884 69 Preparation for the legal execution of Kelly, Sample, Dowed, Howard, and Delaney 72 The execution, March 28, 1884 73 Other Murders of the First Decade 74 John Hiles killed by Billy Daniels, March 22, 1884 75 Abe Jones shot, April 4, 1884 76 A lynching, September 11, 1884 76 Nicholas McCormic murdered, August 25, 1887 78 A cowboy killed, September 1, 1887 78 R. E. Clark killed, January 13, 1889 79 V. W. Lowther murdered by James Daley, April 10, 1890 79 Forty-five Sixty, a committee of safety 80 Indian Scares 81 Constant fear of Indian attacks 81 Apache Indians on School Hill and at Forrest Ranch 82 Indian skirmish in Sulphur Spring Valley, 1885; Billy Daniels killed 83 Indian scare, 1886 86 Division of Fourth United States Cavalry stationed below Bisbee 86 Educational System in Course of Development During Wild West Period of the History of Bisbee 87 One-room school building given to the community by the Copper queen Mining Company 87 School activities, September, 1883 to June, 1885 89 The Bisbee school, a community center 90 Rapid growth of the Bisbee ,school system from a one-room to a ten-room school, 1887 to 1899; Tombstone Canyon School built, 1901 93 Reorganization of the Bisbee school system and the establishment of a high school, 1904 and 1905. 94 CHAPTER IV. BISBEE: THE CORPORATION OWNED TOWN 96 Early History of the Phelps Dodge Corporation 97 Phelps and Peck, a merchant firm, 1813; Phelps Dodge and Company, 1834 98 Lumber business added to metal trade, 1875 100 Phelps Dodge and Company continued in general ship- ping and metal business; acquired copper mines in Bisbee, 1881 101 The Copper Queen Consolidated Yining Company, 1885 to 1899 102 Expansion and intensive development 102 Arizona and Southwestern Railroad, 1888 103 Page Calumet and Arizona Mining Company 105 Origin of the Calumet and Arizona Yining Company 105 Litigation over Daley property, 1890 to 1899 107 Purchase of the Irish Mag, 1899; organization of the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company, 1901 108 Agreement of the Copper queen Consolidated Mining Company and the Calumet and Arizona Yining Company in regard to apex rights 110 Copper Queen and Calumet and Arizona Smelters and El Paso and Southwestern Railroad 111 Great modern smelters built twenty-four miles from Bisbee, 1201-1904; the town of Douglas cre- ated 112 El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Company incor- porated, June 25, 1901 114 New Mining Companies Organized 115 Shattuck Arizona Copper Company, 1904 116 Denn Arizona Mining Company, 1905 118 Hardships Endured by Early Settlers 118 Sickness and disease 119 Fatalities in the mines 120 Floods 121 Fire hazards 123 The Mining Companies and Community Welfare 124 Dispensaries and hospitals built 124 Improvements in working conditions and protection of miners 126 Copper Queen Library established, 1887 127 Churches organized 128 Young men's and young women's Christian associa- tions created 131 Economic and Civic Development 133 Newspapers established 134 Copper queen Store built, 1886; Phelps Dodge Mercantile Company organized, 1912 136 Banks established, 1900, 1902, and 1906 139 The city of Bisbee incorporated, 1902; early ordinances and civic improvements 143 The Bisbee Improvement Company, 1901 147 The Bisbee-Naco Water Company, 1904 150 Bisbee Improvement Company and Bisbee-Naco 'dater Company later controlled by Arizona Edison Company 152 Expansion of the Copper Mining Industry 152 Calumet and Arizona Mining Company, 1906 to 1923 152 Page Phelps Dodge and Company reorganized as the Phelps Dodge Corporation, 1917 155 Leasing operations, 1914 to 1921 156 Shattuck Denn Mining Corporation, 1925 158 Sacramento Mountain Mining Project 159 Prospecting and testing; development and production, 1911 to 1923 160 Concentrator built and leaching process installed, 1924 162 Various methods of mining used, 1925 to 1931 163 Sacramento Pit 164 The Great Merger, October 1, 1931 165 CHAPTER V. THE LABOR CRISIS OF THE WORLD WAR PERIOD... 167 Early History of Labor Unions in Bisbee 167 Attempts to unionize the district, 1903 to 1907 167 Character of early labor organizations 168 The English Kitchen Labor Dispute, 1916 169 Strike called 169 Conspiracy and boycott 170 Injunction 171 The Bisbee Deportation, 1917 173 The Mine Strike of June 27, 1917 173 Responsibility for the strike diffused 175 Contemplated violence 177 Deportation of the strikers .planned 179 Deportation plans not revealed 180 Execution of the deportation 182 Kangaroo court in Bisbee 184 The President's Mediation Commission in Bisbee 185 Legal action against those who planned and executed the deportation . 188 CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSION 191 Bisbee, past and present 191 Depression and prosperity 193 The success of the past, the hope of the future 197 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION The history of Bisbee is an account not only of mar- velous development of natural resources and industry but of the admirable growth of people and institutions. Sixty years ago Bisbee consisted of five inhabitants living in rude huts huddled in a nook in the Mule Mountainsl of southeastern Arizona; today it is an industrial city with a population of 25,000, stretching for miles up and down the canyons . It was the age-old lure of substantial things that sent the prospectors to Mule Gulch, but their adventures were only novel incidents in the continuous search for riches. Those who dreamed of the thrills of the original discovery of ore failed to realize the tremendous labor and capital necessary for the extraction of the copper from the mountains. Few realized the faith which was nec- essary to warrant the expenditure of huge sums of money before even a dollar of value was returned. But belief in the district was not misplaced. Nature yielded to the forces of modern life and from a mushroom camp Bisbee grew 1. The southeastern Dragoon Mountains were so called because of two prominent peaks which resembled the ears of a mule when viewed from the upper end of Sulphur Spring Valley, to be one of the largest copper producing centers of the world. The true history of Bisbee must include events which mark the progress of the discovery of ore, the staking of claims, the development of mines, striking events and dra- matic episodes; it must include the social and economic life of the people, their religion, their schools, their occupations, labor conditions, and the organization of capital.