Kartchner Caverns had been highly recommended to us, but since we knew we were going to explore the cave at Coronado National Memorial, we decided to see the
Queen Mine in Bisbee instead. Glad I made reservations for the 10:30AM tour a few weeks ago because it was sold out when we arrived!
The Bisbee mines were closed in 1975 when the grade of copper ore declined and was no longer worth mining. According to their website, more than 8 billion pounds of copper, 2.8 million ounces of gold, and 77.1 million ounces of silver were produced in almost 100 years of mining!
After being outfitted with safety gear, we boarded the trolley cars and were taken into the mine. The hour-long tours are led by former Phelps Dodge employees. Our guide did a great job!
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| When nature calls... |
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| M is actually smiling because those are his bunny ears! |
After the tour, we stopped to view the remnants of the nearby
Lavender Pit mine. This type of open pit mine was used to extract copper from lower-grade ore than what was found in the underground Queen Mine.
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| That's just one biscuit under there! |
From Bisbee, we drove north to the "town too tough to die." Tombstone is definitely a tourist trap, but after watching all of those bad Westerns, we had to take in all of the cheesy-ness!
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| Morgan, Virgil, Doc, and Wyatt |
And yes, we shelled out the dough to watch a re-enactment of the
"Gunfight at the O.K. Corral". At least we got to see the actual location of the shootout...
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| The figures are placed according to Wyatt Earp's hand-drawn account |
...and the show was pretty entertaining, too!
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| The Earps and Doc Holliday |
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| Clantons and McLaurys |
Fittingly, the last stop on our way out of town was Boothill Graveyard.
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| Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury's graves |
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| Segregated even in death - the Chinese section of the graveyard |
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| My favorite epitaph! |
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