The Bisbee mine, near Bisbee, Arizona, is one of most famous of the American mines because Bisbee turquoise
(also known as "Bisbee Blue" registered name)
was one of the first put onto the market.
The turquoise mine is part of the Bisbee copper mine (The Copper Queen),
the main operation of the site. When the Phelps Dodge Mining Co. started open pit mining
operations at the location now known as the 'Lavender Pit, the vast majority of Bisbee turquoise surfaced and revealed
itself.
High-quality Bisbee turquoise is a hard, strikingly brilliant blue stone often with red-brown spiderwebbing, dendrites or
hard chocolate brown colored matrix distinctive to the area near Bisbee.
Bisbee turquoise can be found in many different shades of color and quality, from soft, low quality pale blue to the
quality hard brilliant blue turquoise and most every shade of blue in between. Green turquoise is also found in Bisbee,
but gem-quality green is rare.
Large amounts of a "red glantz" conglomerate rock bed needed to be removed before the
deeper located copper ore could be reached. This conglomerate "waste" rock was the host for most of the turquoise,
both in vein and nugget form. The unusual matrix forms wisps or veils throughout the stone, often called "Smoky Bisbee."
The highest grade of Bisbee is found at less then 100 feet, however, at Lavender Pit,
good Bisbee was discovered at 2,000 feet.
During the time that the largest quantities of turquoise were being extracted from the mine,
the company made no organized effort to recover it. It simply got loaded into large dump trucks and hauled off to the
"dumps". During this time (primarily through the late-50s into the late-60s), almost all recovered turquoise was picked
up by company employees, taking it home in their lunch boxes, etc. Though this activity was prohibited, it was rarely enforced. For several years (mostly the early to late 70s),
these individuals locally know as "dumpers", were the only source for this fine turquoise.
Also, during this time, Phelps
Dodge leased out the dumps to an individual to mine the dumps for turquoise.
Phelps Dodge Mining Company has declared Bisbee depleted and has burried the mine under 50 feet of dirt.
Bisbee is one of the most expensive and highly collected turquoises because of its rarity, high density and exquisite character.
Most jewelry being made with Bisbee is from long-time collectors of the stone, miners, old stashes and collections that are getting harder
and harder to find every year.
Bisbee turquoise can be found in many different shades of color and quality, from soft, low quality pale blue to the
quality hard brilliant blue turquoise and most every shade of blue in between. Green turquoise is also found in Bisbee,
but is not usually of very high quality.
During the time that the largest quantities of turquoise were being extracted from the mine,
the company made no organized effort to recover it. It simply got loaded into large dump trucks and hauled off to the
"dumps". During this time (primarily through the late-50s into the late-60s), almost all recovered turquoise was picked
up by company employees, taking it home in their lunch boxes, etc. Though this activity was prohibited, it was rarely enforced. For several years (mostly the early to late 70s), these individuals locally know as "dumpers", were the only source for this fine turquoise. Also, during this time, Phelps
Dodge leased out the dumps to an individual to mine the dumps for turquoise.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia.
FROM http://www.answers.com/topic/bisbee-blue
More...
At the turn-of-the-century, the community of Bisbee, located just east of the Mule Mountains in southeastern Arizona, reigned as one of the premiere copper mining towns in the world. Today, tours of Bisbee’s famed Copper Queen Mine rank as one of the area’s top tourist attractions, drawing visitors from throughout the United States and abroad.
The Mule Mountains hid a wealth of gold, silver and copper until the late 1870’s, when a government scout, Jack Dunn, discovered rich ore deposits while chasing Apaches. Dunn and a couple of partners grubstaked a prospector, George Warren, to explore the area and file claims on their behalf. Warren, however, spent a good share of his time drinking, and what few claims he did file were not in Dunn’s name, but in his own. During a drunken spree two years later, Warren bet one of his claims that he could outrun a man on horseback in a two-hundred yard dash. He lost the race, and he forfeited his claim to what turned out to be one of the richest copper mines in the West.
By 1908, Bisbee, with a population of over 20,000, was Arizona's largest town and "the liveliest spot between El Paso and San Francisco." Homes sprouted from the steep canyon walls. Forty saloons lined Brewery Gulch. The mines ran day and night. The Phelps Dodge Company became the largest operator, and copper was the life blood of Bisbee.
For 95 years, the hills surrounding Bisbee produced copper and impressive amounts of gold, silver, lead and zinc. Eight billion pounds of copper were mined. Finally, the deposits were exhausted. Operations were no longer economic. The mines shut down.
From: http://www.desertusa.com/mag01/jan/stories/bbee.html
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