b'Bisbee is known as a culturally rich community thatmovie set. It is what is left includes an active and varied population. Bisbee retainsof Lowell, its welcoming spirit, offering visitors a rich mix of art,a former mining town music, history, architecture, outdoor activities, dining, andthat was nightlife. It is 92 miles southeast of Tucson and 11 milesincorporated into Bisbee north of the Mexican border. in the early B isbee was founded as a copper, gold, and silverWHAT TO DO 1900s. As time went mining town in 1880. By 1920, the miningBisbees Queen Mine was one of the richest copperby, the buildings were destroyed boom raised the population of Bisbee to itsmines in history. It reopened very quickly as a touristto make space for the open pit of the mine, and high of just over 9,000 residents. The Bisbee minesdestination in 1976, less than 100 years after the mineresidents moved away. Locals have now preserved produced metals valued at $6.1 billion (in 1975 prices).originally opened because of the redevelopmentthis street to show visitors exactly how everything It was one of the largest mines in the world. Eightefforts. About 50,000 people a year, outfitted withlooked at that time. You will find some amazing billion pounds of copper, almost three million poundsa hard hat and a miners headlamp, take the Queenvintage cars, old ads and billboard signs, a gas of gold, and 77 million pounds of silver were takenMine Tour that lasts about an hour and travels downpump, a Greyhound bus, and perfectly-preserved from the ground here. A high-quality turquoise known1,500 feet below ground. The temperature in the minestorefronts lining the street in a way that looksas Bisbee Blue was a by-product of its copperremains at 47 degrees year- post-apocalyptic. mining days and todayround. QueenMineTour.comis a regarded andOld Bisbee is a thriving downtown cultural area. priceless collectible.The Lavender Pit is notThere are Victorian-style houses and an elegant art Back when the minecolored purple; instead, itdeco county courthouse. Compact and walkable, was operational, itgot its name from Harrisonthe center of town is quite hilly with many metal was a diverse group ofM. Lavender, who, as vice- and concrete staircases connecting the homes and immigrant miners frompresident and general managerbusinesses. Each set of stairs has a unique mural at Europe that tilled theofPhelps Dodge Corporation,its foot and from the stairs you can discover little Mule Mountain mines. conceived of making thestores or artists places. The best example is the previously unprofitable low- old four-story-high school that has a ground-level Today, over 5,000grade copper-bearing rockentrance for each floor given the way its built into people make Bisbeeof the area into commercialthe hillside. their home and it hascopper ore. It was opened in transformed itself1950 and operated until 1974,The Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb is a five-kilometer into a tourist and artists haven. The transformationproducing 86 million tons of ore that yielded 600,000run through the city in October that traverses happened in the middle of the 1970s because justtons of copper, plus gold and silver by-products.1,034 stairs on nine staircases. Billed as "the most like in other mining towns in Arizona, the miningJeep tours are available if you want to see it up close.unique physical fitness challenge in the USA" by companies stopped their operations. Parent companyYou can learn about the damage that mining doesthe organizers, the Climb includes runners being Phelps Dodge Corporation worked with the localto a mountain since every day there was a blast thatserenaded by musicians at various locations among government to create a mine tour that was part of thedisrupted 75,000 tons of rock, until 1975 when thethe stairs. The event has grown to include the Ice Man towns bid to become a tourist destination. Later on, themine closed. Now there is a huge pit, with platformsCompetition, designed to honor the history of men federal government took interest and provided federalfrom where visitors can view it. delivering blocks of ice by hand before the advent of aid to complete the development of the flagship tour ofrefrigeration. In the Ice Man Competition, entrants the Copper Queen Mine, which is one of many thingsErie Street is dubbed as a living snapshot of arace up 155 steps carrying a ten-pound block of ice you can enjoy during a perfect day in Bisbee. different time. It is like stepping into a Westernwith antique ice tongs. Bisbee1000.org24 December 2020'