Not sure what this was about – but reflects spirit of Bisbee
We left Silver City relatively early for us and headed south through a lot of brown, dry country. We stepped in Lordsburg for gas, a town that seemed to have more empty buildings than occupied ones and in fact we drove past several abandoned gas stations before we actually found one in operation. It was so busy we had to wait to get a pump. For all we know, it was the only operating station in town. Needless to say, we weren’t impressed with Lordsburg.
As we made our way out of a small mountain range we had just crossed, we spotted two heavily-laden cyclists heading uphill as we were making the last gradual descent after a very long, steep, winding descent. It was only nine in the morning but the temperature was already approaching 80 degrees. We saw them and groaned in sympathy. They had a very hard ride ahead of them.
Douglas is a town in Arizona that is right on the border with Mexico, and when we were within about 50 miles of it we started seeing Border Patrol trucks around. They even had a checkpoint to stop and inspect all northbound cars at one point on the very untraveled highway we were taking. They just waved at us as we went by headed towards Mexico. Once we made it to Douglas we got within about ten blocks of the border but neglected to go and see The Wall. We were just anxious to get on to Bisbee.
Bisbee was a main destination for this trip because we are both fans of several of J A Jance’s series of mysteries. We first started reading a series set in Seattle featuring J P Beaumont. Later we discovered a second series featuring Joanna Brady that are set here in Bisbee. Jance grew up in Bisbee and we have always enjoyed the setting of that series, so here was a chance to see it in person.
Bisbee was founded as a mining town in 1880 and you can tell that the Copper Queen mine was everything for this town. As you approach the town, the first thing you see is the huge mountain of mine tailings as well as the nearly one thousand foot deep open pit mine. The mines were finally closed in the 70’s, but mining recovery techniques have improved so much that if the price of copper ever goes up significantly, they will be able to recover nearly as much copper from the tailings as they originally found.
We were quite taken with Bisbee. It is set within a fairly steep-sided canyon so that everything is placed on hillsides and many of the old downtown buildings have been preserved. It is a very scenic town, with quite a few galleries (though most were closed – typical off season hours are something like Thursday through Sunday, and today is only Monday). We really enjoyed the ambiance and setting and were very happy to find a room in the Copper Queen Hotel, which was built in 1898 and is allegedly haunted. We haven’t seen any ghosts yet.
Hotel safe behind the front desk
Hotel lobby / reading area
Main street in Bisbee
Mike was VERY disappointed they were closed
Now the Stock Exchange Saloon & Grill
Old Mansion that now backs up to tailings mound – seems somehow fitting
We also learned about a jeep tour we could take that would take us all around Bisbee, specifically pointing out places relevant to the Jance books. Sign us up! Gary met us out in front of our hotel and drove us around Bisbee for over two hours. It was a great tour and Gary told us all kinds of fun stuff about Bisbee and Jance (he went to school with her and she has also gone on the tour). We also liked it when he pointed out that even Jance says she can’t remember exactly which events happened in which book, just like us.
Jance’s childhood home
Sheriff’s office where fictional Joanna Brady works
The city was built on hillsides so steep that many of the houses are only accessible by steep staircases. The city is known for its many long, steep staircases and they just had their famous annual run, the Bisbee 1000, in which runners cover nine long staircases with over 1000 steps total and just under five miles. The roads are also extremely narrow and it felt more like Europe driving through those streets than it did a southwest town!
He also pointed out that if you ever want to buy a house in Bisbee, make sure the address does not have a letter above A or B after it. Many houses are not on any street, but rather up one or another of the steep staircases. The house numbers have letters added according to how far away from the street they are. Thus, 9 is next to the street, 9A is next up that stairs, and 9F would be seven houses up the stairs from the street. Carrying groceries home can be quite the challenge. The high school is listed in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not – it has four floors but each floor has a street-level entrance because the street next to it is so steep. This place has character!
Looking down on Bisbee from up on the hillside – there are still houses above us
We had dinner in the hotel saloon and while it was nothing fancy, it was well prepared and very tasty. There was even a fellow playing guitar and singing old favorites while we ate. We are enjoying our stay in this little time machine back a hundred years, but tomorrow it is on to Tombstone and Tucson!