Queen Mine Tour, Bisbee, AZ with the NOMADS

Here is the NOMAD team, minus Joe who is still working some and was on a conference call, heading into the Queen Mine in Bisbee, AZ.  This is a copper mine - over 6 billion tons were extracted from this mine over the years.  Bisbee is a real Wild West town with lots of amazing characters, steep stairs, mining houses all with front porches (made out of wood) and also a pit mine which mined lower quality ore.  It is huge and I will put that on my next blog. The couple next to us is from Florida, then Don and Mary are from Sun City, AZ, and Joyce and Joe are from Little Hocking, OH.  Wonderful people and HARD WORKERS!  (not in the mine!)

We will head into the mine on a train rail, spending about an hour with a gentleman who mined all his life.

Here we go!

There were thirteen levels to the mine and we went in on level Ten about 1400 feet.  It was 49 degrees inside.  This is a rail car from level Nine from which they brought up the ore.  Miners were paid by the railroad car amount of ore each day...the faster the team worked, the more money they obtained!

Trinity Methodist Church sold pasties one day...ground sirloin, potatoes, carrots, celery and onion, wrapped in a folded circle of dough - delicious.  That was what the miners took in their metal lunchboxes for their noon meal.  My grandfather on my mother's side was a miner superintendent in upper Michigan, and he took pasties for lunch every day.

Meet Analy, the Assembly of God's minister's daughter.  She met Rufus...having ALWAYS been afraid of dogs.  Now she walks Rufus when she comes and just got her own puppy!!!!

This unit was designed by Gary Prichard, head of the Western area of NOMADS.  We are RV4 and draw 1/4 of the 100 amps to our trailer.  So far, so good, although one motor home is huge and draws more electricity.  We have had no problems at all with it.

We are working at Trinity Methodist, First Methodist and the Y Thrift Store.  All proceeds from that store (almost $3000 a month) goes to low income housing!

I will show more project photos and details next time.  Happy Trails from the Old West where many women here wear clothes we've seen at the thrift store, the men hold on to mattresses on top of racks on pickups going up the steep hills, most men have long mining coats to wear and cowboy boots, and we just love this town!  Today we go to the Mining Museum.