This photo depicts a narrow gauge railroad pulling slag cars from a copper smelter in the Morenci district.

Jerome Arizona was a very remote, and very rich copper town perched on the side of a steep mountain. The town peaked in the 1920s with a population of over 10,000, with several thousand men employed at the local mines.

Contention Mill in Contention, Arizona 1880
Charleston was another milling town for Tombstone silver ore. The mills there were captured in detail by frontier photographer Carleton E. Watkins in 1880.

Tombstone Companies’ M & M 10-Stamp Mill at Charleston, Arizona
Two mills, a 10 stamp and a 20 stamp, operated at Charleston. These mills operated until the late 1880s.

Cornish pump at a Tombstone mine ca. 1890
Bisbee Arizona is another historic copper camp that helped Arizona become the leader in US copper production. The following photo shows miners standing on square set timbers and cribbing that is supporting the ceiling of a massive stope.

Quite a massive !!! Seems like it’s been there for a while???

Bisbee was one of Arizona’s great copper centers. By 1910, around the time the following photo was taken, it was one of the most important industrial centers in the entire western United States.

The following photo is undated but is undoubtedly a very early photo related to the development of this district. Note the simple wooden headframe and dress that indicates that the miners and their families were on a weekend outing.