Distance from Tucson
96 miles southeast

Located at 5,300 feet in the Mule Mountains, Bisbee is a visual delight. The buildings, from grand hotels to miners-shacks, stagger up and down the steep sides of the canyons. Old clapboard houses with tiny little gardens perch at the top of tortuous staircases a hundred feet or more up from the street level. They are occupied by an eclectic variety of folks drawn to the casual atmosphere and the excellent climate.

Bisbee is compact enough to enjoy the tour outlined in the Chamber of Commerce Bisbee Walking Tour. There are many craft and jewelry shops as well as galleries and restaurants. The Copper Queen Hotel is the pride of Bisbee and has a decent restaurant but there are several other excellent eateries nearby.

The first mining activity at Bisbee was in the mid 1870's and a major copper deposit was discovered. It was mined extensively until 1974 when the great Lavender Pit was closed. Underground mining ceased the next year.

The mine drew workers from the world over and much of the color of Bisbee's early days came from the unionizing efforts and political leaning of the work force. During a strike in 1917 the local business community, convinced it was saving itself from a communist menace, decided to take matters in its own hands. Pinkertons and other thugs were deputized to roust 1,000 striking miners from their homes one night. They were loaded at gun point into railroad boxcars supplied by the Phelps Dodge Company and dumped in the New Mexico desert. The U.S. Army rescued the miners and set up a tent city. The miners never returned to Bisbee.

The deportation of the miners and the rest of Bisbee's history is superbly presented at the Mining and Historical Museum located just across from the Copper Queen Hotel. This is one of the finest local history museums you will ever see; the history comes alive in the professionally done exhibits.