Lavendar Pit

I remember two weeks after moving to Arizona, I was told, “You need to go to Bisbee, AZ!”

I began the 45-minute drive from Sierra Vista, AZ, following the United States-Mexico Border on HWY 92, looking at the mountain ranges between the long valleys, and in the distance, the border wall.

I came around the corner, and to my left was a very large open-pit mine! I was completely in shock as I had never seen anything like it. Thankfully, there was a pull-off with information signage. The mine began in the 1880s, extracting copper, silver, and gold. Initially, the mine began tunneling through the Mule Mountains, but after World War 1, the demand for copper was high. In 1917, the open-pit mine concept was introduced, and the extraction of copper became much easier to pull from the ground.

In 1975, mining in Bisbee came to an end due to depleted reserves. The coloration of the lavender pit is due to the oxidation of copper minerals. Be sure to stop here on your visit to Bisbee!