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| no partners | | Time to show the remote copper town a little love.
Before camping and hiking with other HAZers at Organ Pipe, I spent a night at La Siesta Motel (good TripAdvisor reviews) in Ajo. The drive over across the Tohono O'odham Nation via AZ 86 was scenic and pleasant. Stopped at the Visitor Center at the old train depot downtown and picked up some reading material as well as asking questions. Snooped around town for awhile waiting for my check in time to arrive.
Drove up to the mine overlook and saw where the museum is located at St. Catharine's Indian Mission, then stopped for some Mexican food. After dinner I did the 11 mile scenic drive around the copper pit, then stopped for a beer at 100 Estrella, before calling it a day. 
I had presumed this was another old Phelps Dodge Mining town (in a way it is), but initially it was established by the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company of Warren, Arizona under supervision of John C. Greenway starting in about 1914 (of course mining was done here well before that, this is referring to the modern phase). This was at a time of great labor unrest in America, and Greenway being aware of the tense climate of unhappy workers, hired the Minnesota firm of Kenyon & Maine to design a town which would keep his workers content and productive. This was part of the "City Beautiful Movement" which was in vogue during that period. If you stand by the flagpole in the downtown plaza and look toward the mountaintop cross, the town's streets radiate symmetrically out like the wings of a bird. The architectural style selected is Spanish Colonial Revival. (There is a walking tour of the Historic District, which I plan on doing next visit).
The railroad linking the mine with the mainline of the Southern Pacific at Gila Bend was established in 1916 and continued in operation until April 12, 1985, around the time of the mine closure. It was temporarily reopened between 1995-1998 when the Ajo Smelter was dismantled and removed.
So not a Phelps Dodge town originally, but Phelps Dodge acquired the mine and most of the town in 1931. There was a building boom between 1947-1952 during the good times. Ajo had a population of around 7000 in 1965. The ebb and flow..tough times followed and the mine closed in 1984.
Starting in 1986, Phelps Dodge began marketing company houses to snowbirds (Ajo = where summer spends the winter). In 2007 Freeport McMoRan bought out Phelps Dodge and associated infrastructure.
In addition to promoting tourism (a common theme for Western mining towns that no longer have active production), Ajo has a growing artist contingent..all good signs. So, one of the times you are racing by on your way to Organ Pipe or Rocky Point, stop for a bit, have a look around, and check out some of the history of this friendly old copper camp.  |
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