Cebtury-old state-of-the-art mine shaft still stands in Jerome, Arizona

Audrey headframe shaft

Remnants of Jerome, Arizona’s great mining past can be found throughout the town but few are as impressive as the Audrey Headframe Shaft located at the Little Daisy Mine. 

The exhibit of old mining equipment sits on a hill overlooking Jerome. One hundred years old, the Audrey shaft is the largest wooden shaft standing in Arizona today.  The 1.900-foot shaft is lined with concrete. It was used to haul ore up from the mine.  It was considered state-of-the-art when it was built-in 1918. Visitors who don’t get dizzy looking down can stand on a glass floor and look into the depths of the shaft. 

The Little Daisy mine was a rich one. During 23 years, starting in 1915, almost 4 million tons of ore was taken from beneath the earth. Copper dominated the list with 397,000 tons, followed by 221 tons of silver and 5-1.2 tons of gold.  The ore was transported to the railhead in the valley below by burros and train.  

The fenced in mining equipment is a public park today maintained by Jerome Historical Society.

Jerome, Arizona: once wicked, now peaceful

The view from Jerome

Perched on Cleopatra Hill overlooking some pretty awesome Arizona scenery, Jerome isn’t the town it once was. 

Some 140 years ago, Jerome was a wild copper mining town, known as the “wickedest“t own in the West. Founded in 1876 mining camp to retrieve the rich copper ore beneath the soil Jerome, at one time was the fourth largest city in the Arizona Territory. Its population peaked at 15,000 in the 1920s. But has shrunk to a mere 450 people today.  (Its low point was about 50 people in the 1950s and 1960s.) The city now bills itself as the “largest ghost town in America.” 

Downtown Jerome

The town is on the National Historic Register. As you drive by the commercial buildings and aging houses, it’s easy to see why. Many buildings boast plaque describing what businesses were there in the town’s heyday. 

Home of the deepest existing wooden mine shaft

Jerome was home to the largest copper mine in Arizona, digging up about 3 million tons of ore a month at its peak. Mining equipment is sprinkled around in a few places, including Aubrey Headrame Park, which  overlooks the city. 

The town doesn’t draw too many miners these days, but lots of tourists as it is reinventing itself as a tourist destination and artist colony. 

This northern Arizona town is just 20 miles from Sedona with its gorgeous red rock formations and 90 miles from Phoenix.

See more photos of Jerome on my YouTube channel.

Arizona's Mogollon Rim offers spectacular views

Mogollon Rim on a rainy day

Photo by Jon Teal

Take a tip from something we learned the hard way: Don’t visit northern Arizona’s Mogollon Rim on a rainy day.  While the views are still nice, they’re even better on a sunny day. Spectacular is more like it. 

But even on a cloudy, rainy day, you’ll still be able to see for miles. We accessed it at a visitor center on Highway 260, aka Mogollon Trail, between Payson and Show Low. Here, the views are of rolling forested hills, but other sections feature rough terrain with deep canyons, and rocks dating back billions of years.

An unpaved road from the visitor center takes motorists down into the canyon, but our hotel said it’s not recommended for subcompact cars, which we have. 

The Mogollon Rim stretches 200 miles across Arizona, from Yawapai County to the border with New Mexico. This geological wonder is on the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau.  With elevations up to 5,000 feet, it’s a good place to cool off for escapees from southern Arizona’s blazing summer temperatures. Camping, hiking and fishing are popular activities. 

Mogollon Rim may have been named for Juan Mogollon, a colonial governor of New Mexico. Or, it could be named for the Spanish word for mistletoe, a parasitic plant that can kill -- not kiss -- the rim’s gorgeous pine trees. 

Just as unclear is how to pronounce the name of this “backbone of Arizona.” Supposedly, the official pronunciation is “muggy yawn,” but you’ll hear locals call it “mew goo lin” or “mo goo lin.” For sure, if you ask for directions to “mow go lawn,” they’ll wonder what you’re talking about.

Showman Buffalo Bill Cody also a miner in Arizona

Library of Congress photo

Most people know William Frederick Cody as a Pony Express rider, Indian fighter, buffalo hunter and internationally as a showman. He was also a gold miner in southern Arizona. 

Born in Iowa in 1846, he moved with his family Canada and then to Kansas where his father operated a trading post at an Indian agency. Young Cody went to work to support his family after his father died in 1857. He became enamored of gold at age 14 and was on his way to California when, he became a Pony Express rider, outsmarting outlaws and Indians as he rode his 45-mile route. 

He scouted for the Union Army against the Indians during the Civil War and continued doing so after the war. He was given the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Plains War with the Indians. Cody received the nickname of “Buffalo Bill,” after killing more than 4,200 buffalo in 18 months to supply meat for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. 

He turned to acting when he was 26 years old. Reportedly he wasn’t very good at it, but the crowds loved him anyway. He founded his Wild West show in 1883, eventually touring throughout the United States and Europe. 

But the quest for precious metals that inspired a young   Cody to head for California never really left him. In 1903 he invested in mining ventures, primarily at Camp Bonita, in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains near Oracle, Arizona. Reportedly, he never visited the mine until 1910. Besides gold, the Camp Bonito mines also contained silver and tungsten. The light bulb invented by Thomas Edison used tungsten from Cody’s mines.  

Cody often camped at the mine or stayed in nearby Oracle if his wife was with him.  He eventually owned property in the foothills, with a home, La Casa del High Jinks, built there in 1933. This house today is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The High Jinks ranch is located up a winding dirt road. Itt offers respite for hikers on the Arizona Trail. Remains of some mining operations can be seen at the entrance to the compound.

Cibique, Arizona, site of fight that kicked off new round of Apache wars

Entering Cibique

Cibique, Arizona, is a quiet community of about 1,300 souls surrounded by rolling hills. Dogs and horses freely roam the streets; the community’s middle and high schools are topped by a dome that can be seen from blocks away. 

But Cibique wasn’t always this peaceful. 

In August 1881, it was the scene of a battle between the Apaches and the cavalry from Fort Apache that ultimately resulted in the mass defection of the post’s Indian scouts and Canon Apache warriors joining forces with Geronimo. 

Unhealthy conditions and corruption were the rule on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, A respected medicine man, Nock-ay-det-klinne, began holding ghost dances in the village as the Apaches tried to cope with the disruption of a lifestyle they had enjoyed for centuries.  Some of these ceremonies took place near Fort Apache, with the Army’s Indian scouts attending.  Because of this, Nock-ay-det-klinne, who had counseled Geronimo and Cochise, among other Apache leaders, became a target for the cavalry, especially as fort officers became suspicious of the scouts who attended the ceremonies.

Two horses "dine" on streetside vegetation

The Army soon came to mistrust the scouts, fearing they would side with the other Apaches should an uprising occur. They confiscated their weapons. 

On August 29, the Sixth Cavalry with 79 enlisted men and 23 scouts left Fort Apachte to arrest Nock-ay-det-klinne, the medicine man. After several days of riding over rough, rocky terrain, the Army reached Nock-ay-det-klinne’s camp. They started back to the fort with the medicine man in custody. 

A battle erupted as the Army began to make camp for the night. It became more deadly when the scouts turned against the soldiers, six of whom were killed before the scouts began defending the Army. Later that night, after burying their dead, the Army sneaked out under cover of darkness. It was a victory for the Apaches.

During the attack, Nock-ay-det-klinne, his wife and son, were killed, further inciting the Apaches. Two days later, Apaches attacked the fort, and later joined forces with other regional Apache tribes, including the Chiruicahuas, to set off a regional uprising. It was a war that was to last for two years. 

Fields around Cibique

Cibique is located on the White Mountain Apache Reservation on Indian Highway 12,  about 12 miles from Highway 60, a few miles south of the Fort Apache  junction. If there are any monuments marking the battle site, they are not easily found.

Outdoor sculptures grace old-fashioned Arizona mall

A bison welcomes  visitors to the  Shops at Bison Ranch

The Shops at Bison Ranch is more than just a small shopping mall. It can also double as a tourist attraction with its neat collection of outdoor bronze sculptures.

This Overgaard, Arizona, mall is eye-catching to begin with, featuring colorful old-fashioned store fronts, but drive slowly around it and through the exclusive subdivision of cabins in the back to see a collection of Western sculptures, including buffalo and bronc riders.

 

 The sculptures remind me of the glorious bronze statues located on Main Street in Joseph, Oregon. 

Shops at Bison Ranch is located about 30 miles west of Show Low on Highway 260, also known as the Mogollon Trail, which connects Show Low and Payson. 

k to see a collection of Western sculptures, including buffalo and bronc riders.
The sculptures remind me of the glorious bronze statues found on Main Street in Joseph, Oregon. 

Shops at Bison Ranch is located about 30 miles west of Show Low on Highway 260, also known as the Mogollon Trail, which connects Show Low and Payson. 

Go down under at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns

If you’re traveling through southern Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns isn’t on your list of sights to see, put it there. This phenomenon of nature is well worth the detour.

Located in the Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns was formed 250 million years ago when it was the coastline for an inland sea. Inside you’ll find 119 caves with stunning stalactite and stalagmite formations. Some look like big boulders, others like gigantic icicles.  These limestone formations are all stunning.

The formations can be found in “rooms,” some of which are huge. The Big Room, for example, got its name because it’s the biggest down there. It is 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide and 285 feet high. It is the fifth largest cavern in North America.

Formations and caves have names, such as the Balloon Ballroom, Witch’s Finger, Chocolate High, Halloween Hall and Left Hand Tunnel. Signage throughout describes what you’re looking at. 

And, of course, there’s the Bat Cave, so named because the cavern’s majority of bats sleep here during the day. They leave at sunset in swarms that’s a sight to see if you’re there at the time.

Carlsbad became a national monument in 1923 and a national park in 1930. 

Carlsbad Caverns

The caverns are accessible by hiking down a trail from the natural entrance or by elevator. I hiked down the trail when I first visited there in 1972 and found the paved steep walkway and handrails slippery with bat guano. To say the least, I was perturbed when I got to the bottom and saw the elevator.  I took it back up. When I visited again in the spring of 2017, I took the elevator both ways.

The caverns are handicapped accessible. Wheelchairs are permitted on the main trail, but only to a certain point. After that, you’ll have to retrace your way back to the “lobby.”

Carlsbad Caverns is open daily, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.

You can see more pictures of Carlsbad Caverns on my Youtube slideshow.