Arizona, Havasu City, Sedona, Jerome, Casa Grande & Tubac

Tuesday, Feb. 14th - Thursday, March 16th

Valentine's Day we moved up to Emerald Cove on the California side of the Colorado River near Parker, AZ.  Thursday we drove up to Havasu City to see the movie "Lion" which is based on a true story and was very good.  After the show we noticed the sign for Scotty's Broasted Chicken and Ribs and couldn't pass it up.  Yum, yum!  A week later on Friday we were in Havasu again to see another movie, "The Great Wall" with Matt Damon.  Bad movie, don't bother, but we went back to Scotty's for their fish fry, which was very good.  

The following Thursday we went back to Havasu to get our taxes done and see another movie, "Get Out".  A very strange movie, sort of reminded me of episodes of "The Twilight Zone".  Okay, if you like that sort of thing.  On someone's recommendation, we went downtown to Juicy's Restaurant which was very good, and stumbled on a car show.

Sunday, March 5th we moved to Dead Horse Ranch State Park at Cottonwood, just south of Sedona.

Monday we headed up to explore the mile high town of Jerome on Cleopatra Hill.  It is named for Eugene Jerome, a prominent New York attorney, who invested in a mining venture in central Arizona's Black Hills in 1883.  After hearing of the richness of the Arizona copper mines, he and several others formed the United Verde Copper Company.  The costs of operating, especially transportation, outstripped profits and the company folded in less than two years.  It took the vision and vast financial resources of a new owner, Senator William A. Clark from Montana, to bring a narrow gauge railroad and reduce freight costs.  By the early 20th century, United Verde was the largest producing copper mine in the Arizona Territory.  About in the center of the picture is Mexican Methodist Church built in 1939 of scrap lumber, mine timbers and discarded dynamite boxes.  It was known as the powder box church and is now a private residence.

About 100 miles of mining tunnels run beneath the city.  Workings eventually went down 4,500 feet from the surface.  In 77 years it produced 1.4 million tons of copper, 1,702 tons of silver and 46.7 tons of gold with a total market value of $500 million.  Tunnel blasting began in 1924 in an effort to loosen more rock.  Entire tunnels were packed with 125 to 130 tons of explosives.  The blasting shook the very core of Cleopatra Hill.  The center of town began to slowly descend down the hill.  Many buildings were destroyed before the slippage finally subsided years later.  The second largest J.C. Penney store was once here.  As the store slipped away from the walk, a plank was extended from the walk to the front door, until the gap became too wide and the store was torn down.  The water and sewer lines slowly twisted like pretzels.

In 1915 Clark planned and built the town of Clarkdale just down the hill from Jerome and built a new smelter there.  He made millions and became one of the richest men in America, one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age.  He was known as an unscrupulous and fearless investor, making money as a miner, merchant, banker and railroad magnate.  United Verde became the single richest, privately-owned mine in America.  He was also considered the founder of Las Vegas, his railroad bringing prosperity to that area and Clark County, Nevada is named for him.

  

Mark Twain's opinion of Montana's senator.  He won his senate seat by bribing members of the legislature who, at that time, elected the senators.  The U.S. Senate refused to seat him and the governor had to appoint a new senator.  Both the governor and lieutenant governor were out of the state at the time, but the lieutenant governor who supported Clark raced back to Montana and promptly appointed Clark to the position.  Some things never change.  This scandal and similar cases prompted the 17th Amendment granting the right of direct election of senators by the U.S. citizens.  In 1901 he finally won an election, more or less legitimately, and spent his time working to advance his own businesses, never even trying to address his promises to the voters.  Clark lived at his New York City mansion from 1907 until he died in 1925.  It took 13 years to build, cost $7 million and had 121 rooms, 31 bathrooms, 4 art salons, marble hallways, Gothic tapestries and a huge tower.  To insure against inferior materials, he purchased a stone quarry, a wood and plaster works and a bronze foundry.  It was considered ugly by New Yorkers and torn down 17 years after it was finished.  He had seven children from two marriages and two of the sons managed the Jerome properties after his death.  His daughter, Huguette, just died in 2011.  She has an odd, but interesting story.  Check it out on the internet.

In 1912 James S. Douglas opened the Little Daisy Mine right next to United Verde.  By 1916 Jerome had two bonanza mines.  Copper production peaked in 1929, but the Depression and low grade ore deposits reversed the fortunes of the town.  The Little Daisy shut down in 1938.  Phelps Dodge took over the United Verde, but loss of profits brought the operation and Jerome's mining days to an end in 1953.  The population of Jerome peaked at 15,000 in 1929 and dropped to 100 after the mine closed in 1953.  In the 60's the Hippies started moving in and turned it into an artists colony of sorts.  There are about 500 residents today.  The Douglas Mansion in the pictures above and below is now the Museum of Jerome State Historic Park about the town and its mining history.

The mansion was built in 1916 on a hill just above the Little Daisy Mine with all materials purchased in Arizona and the adobe bricks made on site.  It is 8,700 sq. ft. and cost $150,000 and is one of the largest adobe dwellings in the country. It has a very good video and beautiful views of the Verde Valley.  He designed the house as a hotel for mining officials and investors, as well as for his family.  It had a wine cellar, billiard room, marble shower, steam heat, electricity and a central vacuum system.

This is part of a set of Royal Crown Derby China from England that once belonged to Mrs. Leonard Jerome, mother to the infamous Jenny Jerome Winston Churchill's mother.  Investor Eugene Jerome, who the town was named for, was Jenny Jerome's cousin.

This buggy belonged to Dr. Douglas, James's father, who used it to travel the territory scouting mining claims for Phelps and Dodge Trading Company and made a fortune getting in on the ground floor of several famous mines.  It was used in 1955 by RKO Studios in the filming of the movie "Oklahoma" near Elgin, Arizona.

This is for my brothers who worked for Ingersoll Rand.  A slusher hoist made by Ingersoll Rand, a scraper and double-drum hoist.  By pulling on cables, the scraper can be moved back and forth, scraping material into an ore car or skip.  A far cry from the Bobcats they build today.

After the museum we drove up this road to check out the ghost town.

It is definitely a ghost town, just an open air museum of left over mining equipment to wander through.

Hotel Conner built in 1898 was billed as "second to none" in the Southwest, elegantly furnished and carpeted with each room featuring a call bell and electricity.  Rooms rented for $1.00 a night.  Jerome from 1899 to 1900 with 4,000 residents, was known as the Wicked City or the Wickedest Town in America, a lawless town of wild women and hard drinking men....a place where bordellos, saloons and dance halls lined the streets and wages were wasted in wicked pursuits, according to the Arizona Republic and the New York Sun.  At the time, there were almost as many people in Jerome as there were in Phoenix.  The legendary Madam Jenny Bauter came from Belgium in 1896.  Her first building burned down in 1897 and the second in 1898.  Her third building still stands and was the first in town to have a concrete sidewalk. When she was murdered in 1905, she was the wealthiest woman in the Arizona Territory.  Much of the Red-light District was on Hull Avenue, the road just below Main Street.  In 1913 reformers passed an ordinance restricting houses of ill-fame from being located downtown.  Citizens showed their disdain for the law by naming the alleyway from Main Street to Hull Avenue Husband's Alley.

The Bartlett Hotel was built of brick in 1901, but became unstable with the slides of the 1930's and was abandoned in the 1940's and sold for salvage in the 1950's.  What is left of it is now closed off with wrought iron fencing with a variety of interesting receptacles arranged inside, so people can toss coins for luck.  Receptacles include an outhouse, toilet, chamber pot, wheel barrow, feeding trough, etc.  So you are literally throwing your money down the toilet.

We drove up to check out the scenic viewpoint above Jerome.  We could see Cottonwood down in the valley from here.  The Jerome Mining District is in the middle of what was once one of the richest outcroppings of copper ore in the world and produced over $4 billion in recovered metals.  We were only about 30 miles from Prescott over the mountains from here, so we decided to go check it out.

It was a little cool and snowy going up over the pass.

But the roads were good and it was nice again when we got down to Prescott.  Meanwhile our next two weeks in Casa Grande and Yuma averaged 95 degrees!  Way too hot.

This is the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott.  They have a timeline of their history carved into the sidewalk way back to the 1400's.  Barry Goldwater and his uncle, Morris Goldwater, whom he nominated as Man of the Century at Prescott's centennial in 1964 while running for president, are both on this timeline, another interesting story.  The statue in front of the courthouse is "Rough Rider Bucky O'Neill" done by Solon Hannibal Borglum, half-brother to the man who did Mount Rushmore.  Their father was a Mormon in Idaho Territory with multiple wives.  It is among his greatest works and acclaimed by art critics as one of the finest equestrian monuments in the world.  He was known as America's First Cowboy Sculptor and he portrayed the western epic in marble and bronze.

Beautiful grounds and brick walkways around and crisscrossing the square.  Prescott was founded in 1864 on Granite Creek, a source of placer gold.  It was named for William Hickling Prescott, Eminent Historian.  He was an appointee of Abraham Lincoln to the first Territorial Capitol of Arizona.

I like the moral of this dog's gravestone on the grounds.

This 1990 statue is in recognition of the ranching heritage of the people of Yavapai County.  The Governor's Mansion and museum complex is just two blocks west of here, but we didn't have time for that today.

Back in Cottonwood, we made a quick stop at DQ for some take home ice cream.  This shop across the street is very typical for the area.  Our friends, Jim and Claudia, came down from Sedona to meet us for supper at the Tavern Grille in old downtown Cottonwood and stopped out at our camper for dessert, Brandy Alexander with ice cream.  Mmm, mmm!

Tuesday we drove up to Sedona to do some hiking with them.  Sedona is definitely my favorite place to go hiking.  It's so beautiful and usually cool, but it was pretty warm this day.

We saw mountain bikers several times.  It's just crazy where they will go.

Submarine Rock right in the center of the picture.

We sat under a shade tree and had a little picnic with the sandwiches we brought.

There's proof we actually made it up here.

Of course, we could have taken the Pink Jeep Tours, but we didn't.

We hiked Marg's Draw Trail and Broken Arrow Trail in Mund's Mountain Wilderness.

Heading back to the car.

Me and Claudia having a little chat with Albert Einstein at Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village in Sedona while the guys were having a beer.  Hmm, seems like all the men in this arrangement were smarter than us.  There are shops, restaurants and galleries here and weddings, cultural events and traditional festivals are held in the courtyards.

Wednesday, March 8th we went to the new Copper Art Museum in the 1928 Clarkdale High School.  Founded in 1912, Clarkdale was senator Clark's greatest venture, costing him $6 million.  He chose the site for a massive expansion of the United Verde Copper Company to provide housing and services for 7,000 employees.  It was the first master-planned community in the state of Arizona on a ridge overlooking his new industrial smelter complex, the world's most modern copper smelter from 1915 to 1953.  The "5 C's" of Arizona's economy are copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate.  They were the leading producer of copper for over 100 years, thus their nickname The Copper State.  From 1863 to the present they have produced over 125 billion pounds of copper, about 10% of the world's production, the 6th largest producer in the world, about 2 billion pounds per year.  The U.S. is the 4th largest producer of copper in the world, 1.5 million tons per year compared to 16 million tons in the world.

On the Arizona flag, the copper star represents Arizona as the largest copper producer in the nation with the 13 rays from it representing the 13 original colonies and symbolizing Arizona's western setting sun.  The red and yellow colors are in reference to the flag of the Spanish Expeditions that searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola (gold).  The blue portion symbolizes liberty.

Copper conversation tub.  Check out the built-in wine bucket.  Scientists believe that copper particles were among the debris that formed the earth 4.5 billion years ago.   Humans first discovered copper about 9,000 B.C.  Only copper and gold occur as native metals in large amounts, such as nuggets of pure metal found lying about.  Copper-based minerals such as azurite, malachite, chrysocolla and turquoise have bright bluish-green color that is easy to see.  Copper is heavy and when polished is a reddish color.  Copper and gold can form in pure nuggets, other metals form in ore.  Copper, like gold, is a metal that will not disintegrate over billions of years.  There are 88 metals known to man.  Only copper and gold have color.  All others are shades of gray.  Bronze and brass are alloys, a mixture of copper and another metal.

Intimidating mask on the back side of a copper helmet.  Copper was the first element to be discovered, followed closely by gold.  The Egyptians were the first to make extensive use of copper.  some of the pharaohs were the first to have indoor plumbing, using copper pipes.  Copper pipes were found still in serviceable condition after 5,000 years in the Great Pyramid of Giza.  Not sure why they needed plumbing in the afterlife.  St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany was built with a copper roof in 1031 and lasted over 900 years until it was destroyed during WWII.  Of course, the building was still standing, too, after 900 years.  I wonder if any of the buildings in this country will still be standing after 900 years.

Trench Art is the creation of military men upon expended brass artillery shell casings, designs thought of between battles and made as souvenirs.

Beautiful, shiny, stamped copper ceilings.  The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. was constructed with a copper roof.  The hulls of Columbus's ships in 1492 has a copper skin-like coating to protect them from barnacles and accumulation of organisms and algae on wet surfaces.  The Statue of Liberty has an almost one inch thick copper skin.  Copper is one of the most important minerals needed for life.  It has been used for thousands of years as a form of medicine and sterilization and as an unproven remedy for arthritis pain and other ailments.  Copper-bottomed pans provide more uniform heating, but renowned chefs prefer solid copper for its immunity to rust.  Beer, wine, water and other liquids were stored in copper as a way to sterilize it, as copper piping aids in the sterilization of water.  92% of the breweries in the U.S. brew their beers and ales in copper.

The Spring Temple Buddha in Henan, China was completed in 2008 and is currently the largest statue in the world.  Made from 1,000 tons of copper, it is 502 feet tall, taller than a 50 story building.  The Christ of the Abyss bronze statue was submerged in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy in 1954 in water 50 feet deep.  It weighs 7,000 pounds and stands 8 foot tall.  There are two similar statues off the coast of Grenada and Florida.   I really think there must be a better, more humanitarian use for all that copper, but what do I know?

Before records were produced on vinyl, a mother copy or master had to be made.  Many times they were made of copper from 1930 to 1995.  The masters were then used to create stampers that were used to stamp the form onto a lump of hot vinyl.

Silver mixed with glass turns into ambers.  Iron mixed with glass turns into greens.  Tin mixed with glass turns into whites.  Gold mixed with glass turns into reds.

Molds for jellos and seasonal candies, like the chocolate Easter Bunnies that are currently filling the shelves of stores all over the country.

After the copper museum we went to Tuzigoot National Monument at Cottonwood.  Humans have lived in Verde Valley for 13,000 years.  Around the year 1300 there were 6,000 to 8,000 natives living in this area in a complex network of villages.  It was a great farming area with a reliable source of water from the river.  They lived on hilltop sister villages, avoiding the mosquitoes and floods next to the river, not wasting the good farmland, with good views between their villages.  Tuzigoot is the only one that has been extensively excavated, done by the WPA and CWA starting in 1934.  From the years 1000 to 1400 at least 40 large villages flourished in Verde Valley.  Tuzigoot housed 225 people at its peak.  There were 110 rooms here, the first built 900 years ago.  Few things were as widely desired as the products from the agave plant.  Economic development was literally tied to this plant.  Woven leaves cushioned feet and body and leaf fiber was twisted into strong twine.  The hearts were roasted, making a sweet food with calories equal to corn.  Today, of course, we make a much more important product from it...tequila for making margaritas!

Distant view of the mile-high town of Jerome from Tuzigoot.  They don't know the actual name of the people who lived here.  Tuzigoot, meaning crooked water for the bend in the Verde River here, was suggested by an Apache man who worked on the excavation crew.  More than 400 graves have been unearthed here.  Today tribes must be consulted when remains are discovered and efforts made to avoid disturbing burial grounds.  One necklace found here was 12 feet long and had 3,295 beads.  Imagine the patience!  Maybe it was made by a retiree like me with nothing better to do.

That evening we went to the Blazin' M Ranch Dinner Show right next to our campground.  This sign was next to the entrance.

They had a little western village with saloon and other shops and a neat little wood craft museum.  This is a scene of Robert E. Lee surrendering to Grant at Appomattox.

This is the Keystone Cops.  All of the people in the little scenes are repetitiously moving through their daily activities.  Very cool.

Laundry day.

Sign on the gallows: Public Hangings - High Noon, Weddings - 3:00 P.M.  Out with the old, in with the new?

Little tour of the farm to see the animals.  John was really excited to be back down on the farm.  One of his favorite TV shows is "Green Acres".

Pony, llama and burrow.  They also had geese, peacocks, horses, cows, goats and a cute little pig.  A sign at the barn said, "Oatsmobile run forever".  I guess that might be true, as long as you can afford the oats.

And I got to go back to my roots, too!  Saloon Girl.  In the early days of saloons, whiskey was pretty wicked, made from raw alcohol and burnt sugar and a little chewing tobacco.  (I remember my Grandpa making homemade schnapps that way, but I don't think he put in any tobacco.)  The whiskey had names like tanglefoot, tarantula juice, red eye and coffin varnish.  Cactus wine was also popular, made from a mixture of tequila and peyote tea.  Muleskinner was made with whiskey and blackberry liquor.  The most popular term was firewater.  It originated when early traders sold whiskey to Indians and demonstrated its high alcohol content by pouring some on the fire to watch it blaze.

The majority of regulars drank straight rye or bourbon.  To prove a man wasn't a sissy, he was often forced to swallow a fifth of 100 proof at gun point "for his own good".  Saloons also served beer, but it was room temperature.  It wasn't until the 1880's that Adolphus Busch introduced artificial refrigeration and pasteurization to the U.S. brewing process, launching Budweiser as a national brand.  Many old west mining camps became more well known for gun fights over card games than their lodes of gold and silver.  Taking swift action became part of the gambler's code: Shoot first and ask questions later.

A great meal of BBQ ribs and chicken and all the fixin's, followed by a very good show.

Thursday we moved to Leisure RV Resort in Casa Grande to spend a few days with my friend, Julie, on her first excursion south as a new snowbird.  Friday we showed her around Tucson a bit and had lunch at El Charros in old downtown Tucson, a very cool restaurant and yummy.  Saturday we met up with Julie's friends, Darla and Ernie, for lunch.  We also had friends from Des Moines, Earl and Cindy, drop by for a visit Monday, which we enjoyed very much.  On Tuesday we took them out to the Casa Grande National Monument...

and went to BeDillons Cactus Gardens Restaurant for lunch.  It was built as a private home in 1917 by a nobleman from Germany.  His father was head of the German Army during WWI. The  BeDillons bought it in 1964 and hosted several hundred weddings here.  It has been open for 25 years and has been featured in the Phoenix Home and Garden magazine, Arizona Highways and four times in the Arizona Republic.

These are skeletons from saguaro cacti.

A very unusual kind of cactus that I had not seen before.

They hold weddings here in the gardens at their restaurant.

It's a very nice place with good food and reasonable prices and a small antique museum.

Wednesday I took Julie down to Tubac, which is an artist's community south of Tucson..

There are some very nice art galleries here and lots of shops of this type where you can buy all sorts of things, like lawn ornaments, pottery and such.

There were several of these Peruvian Retablos in one of the shops.  In colonial times, when Muleteers transported goods between tiny Andean towns, they would seek divine protection on their hazardous journeys by carrying these small, portable altars to their patron saint, San Marcos.  They depicted life in the Andes with portrayals of regional festivals, traditions and religious feasts.

From Tubac, we drove a few more miles south to visit my old friend and classmate, Judy (aka Nicieen) since the second grade at Avalon Organic Gardens and Eco Village.

They have built some interesting little homes out of tirecrete and papercrete (ground up old tires and paper) for some of the families who live here.

A little rain forest leads into their community shower building where the water pipes are built into the roof and the water is heated by the sun.

Some new buildings since the last time I visited.

Interior.

They have a half dozen emus here.

And a few llamas.  This is Daddy Llama.

They also have a half dozen horses and cows and some goats, from which they make goat cheese to sell at the farmer's market in Tubac along with all the vegetables and fruit they raise.  They also sell all sorts of arts and crafts in Tubac and run a holistic spa, hospice and legal center for the needy.

Some of their art projects and a couple young men from Brazil, I believe, working on a gardening project.

On our way back to Tubac we stopped at Tumacacori Mission National Historic Park in the Santa Cruz River Valley.

Mexican Poppies.

The indentations in the wall around the cemetery for the 14 stations of the cross.  After the priests left here, treasure hunters vandalized the graves and cattle were corralled her.  No markers remain from the early graves.  When peace came to the valley, the dead were again interred here, the last one in 1916.

Thursday we headed back to Yuma Lakes where the temps continued to average around 95 for a second week.  The following Wednesday, March 22nd, we headed to Desert Hot Springs for a few days and Sunday to Soledad Canyon RV Resort for a few days, before spending a few days with John's sister and heading north up the Oregon coast for a few more days with John's cousin.

More about that next time and we will probably be back in Montana with the grandkids by the time I get that all posted.

Signs of the Day
Notice:  Department requires no physical fitness program.  Scientific research studies have shown that humans get the required amount of exercise by jumping to conclusions, dodging their responsibilities, flying off the handle, running down the boss and pushing their luck.

John just wants to know:  If a man speaks in the desert where no woman can hear, is he still wrong?

I just want everyone to know:  I'm not bossy, I just have better ideas!

Happy Spring Everybody,

Tarra