Wanderings and Side Trips travel blog

A commerative rock

The latest in mining garb

All six of us suited up and ready to go

The mine train we rode for the tour

Entrance to the Queen Mine

Our tour guide explaining about dynamite

Can you guess what this "cart" was used for?

A stairway we climbed inside the mine

Jan and Sherri with the little engine that could...

Gary and Wes figured out what the little mine cart was used...

The Lavender Pit Mine

One of the streets in Bisbee


Bisbee and the Queen Mine tour were on the schedule for today. The group drove to Bisbee, about 50 miles from St. David. The landscape began to change as we approached the town and soon it began to remind me of the mining towns in Colorado. The elevation was higher than the area surrounding St. David and it looked much like the mountains of Colorado. I was a little concerned about going on the mine tour because I am claustrophobic (sp?). I asked the tour guide how close and small the mine was. He very patiently took me for a walk a short ways into the mine so I could see if I could handle it. He also explained the tour we would take and assured me that I could leave at any time and go back to the top. I decided to try it, however, by this time, Wes had decided maybe he should not take the tour because damp places bother his ability to breathe. Well, we both went, and are we ever glad we did!! It was a great tour!! If you do nothing else in Bisbee, take this tour! Our tour guide was exceptional and we learned a great deal about how copper mining is done. I took a lot of photos inside, but not many came out very good. Various mining tools were displayed and the guide explained their uses and how they worked. He also showed us how to set the dynamite and the results. He was very safety conscious and everything he explained to us had a connecting safety rule and hazard. Before we realized it, an hour and a half had gone by and we were back "topside". A very enjoyable morning!!

After the tour, we drove over to the Lavender mine pit. We had a great view from the road down into the "pit", but no tours etc. were available. We then drove into town and went straight to the Visitors Center. We had lunch in a great little Mexican restaurant with very good food. Then we toured the town. There are a lot of old buildings here and most have been converted to shops and stores. The guys didn't last very long. They took the car and went back to St. David. The girls stayed and shopped the rest of the day.

Upon returning home, we found Gary had caught some fish in the pond and Wes had emptied our tanks and met our neighbors from BC, Canada.

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