MY HUSBAND AND I VISITED BISBEE WHEN WE WERE IN GRADUATE SCHOOL. WE TOOK OUR VAN AND TOURED THIS CITY 82 MILES SOUTH OF TUCSON. IT WAS FOUNDED IN 1880 AS A COPPER GOLD AND SILVER MINING TOWN. YOU CAN VIEW THE COPPER QUEEN MINE AND IT IS VERY DEEP. THE TOWN WAS NAMED BY A JUDGE BISBEE. IN 1929 THE COUNTY SEAT MOVED FROM TOMBSTONE TO BISBEE, AND STAYED HERE. THE POPULATION WAS ABOUT 6,000 IN 2005. THE MINING WAS SO PROFITABLE THAT BY 1910 THE POPULATION INCREASED TO 9,000 PEOPLE AND IT HAD SEVERAL SUBURBS. BY 1917 THE OPEN PIT MINING MET THE COPPER DEMAND FOR WORLD WAR I. TURQUOISE WAS A BY PRODUCT OF COPPER AND HAS BEEN PROMOTED BY BISBEE BLUE. I REMEMBER SEEING MANY JEWELRY STORES THERE! THERE ARE MANY MINERALS THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND UNDERNEATH THE TOWN AND ARE IN MUSEUMS WORLDWIDE. BY 1950 BOOM TIMES WERE OVER AND THE POPULATION WAS DROPPED TO 6,000.
BY THE 1970'S BISBEE HAD BEEN REBORN AS AN ARTISTS COLONY. THE LARGE HOTEL WAS RENOVATED . TOURISTS SPOKE WITH THE OLD TIMERS WHO RECOUNTED THE STORIES FROM LONG AGO. JOHN WAYNE LOVED THIS TOWN OF TOO. IN THE 1990'S THE BABY BOOMERS WERE THE ONES WHO DEVELOPED THE TOWN AND RENOVATED SOME OF THE OLD HOUSES. I ENJOYED CLIMBING UP AND DOWN THE STREETS LOOKING AT THE VICTORIAN HOUSES OF VARIOUS COLORS.
WIKIPEDIA.COM
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