BISBEE ARIZONA March, 2011
Bisbee is a quaint little mining town in the Mule Mountains, and it got there by accident. In the fall of 1877, army scouts and cavalrymen found good looking rock in Tombstone Canyon, where the heart of the old town is now located. A few claims were filed as has always happened, prospectors, speculators, schemers, and connivers descended on the area. Claims were staked, traded, bought and sold. Digging started all over the hillside, and even a small smelter was built. By 1880 the camp of Bisbee was declared the town of Bisbee, complete with its own official Justice of the Peace and Post Office. Many good ore bodies were found, but it wasn't until 1892 that the real production began. That year Phelps Dodge Co. built a railroad into town, and that changed everything. After WW2 a new residential suburb was built four miles from the old town. By 1970 a lot of the town residents moved out of the canyon and the town was falling into disrepair. Then later in the seventies there was a strong influx of young people, hippies is what they called them. They bought up some of the old buildings and started restortion of the old part of town. And "Old Bisbee" was declared a Historic Site.
BREWERY GULCH.
Most of the fine old brick buildings on Brewery Gulch and main street were built in the early 1900's. Well built and set on solid rock, they are still basically sound buildings. Brewery Gulch was once considered the hottest spot between El Paso and San Francisco. In 1881 A.B. Seiber had a small adobe saloon by his brewery. He cooled his beer in a large vault dug into the mountain. In a short time the population of 400 grew to thousands and Brewery Gulch became famous. At one time there were 64 bars in Bisbee. Deeper up the Gulch was the red light district. The girls became a legend. There was Crazy Horse Lil, who was called wildly immoral. Red Jean, could fight anyone, any size, and win. There was Black Jack who dressed like a man. Kate Elder was Doc Holliday's mistress. Ma Reilley ran a dance hall, and men killed over her. Brewery Gulch saw a population of 25,000 people. The gulch managed to survive the economic changes, but the 'catastrophe' which forced a change was, Arizonia becoming a dry state, in 1914, enacting prohibition before the rest of the country.
The gulch is still alive today, offering it's history to anyone who cares to look and listen. As the old timers say: 'The ghosts of the past are still there remembering the days gone by." Their existence was to real to ever die.
Bisbee is a quaint little mining town in the Mule Mountains, and it got there by accident. In the fall of 1877, army scouts and cavalrymen found good looking rock in Tombstone Canyon, where the heart of the old town is now located. A few claims were filed as has always happened, prospectors, speculators, schemers, and connivers descended on the area. Claims were staked, traded, bought and sold. Digging started all over the hillside, and even a small smelter was built. By 1880 the camp of Bisbee was declared the town of Bisbee, complete with its own official Justice of the Peace and Post Office. Many good ore bodies were found, but it wasn't until 1892 that the real production began. That year Phelps Dodge Co. built a railroad into town, and that changed everything. After WW2 a new residential suburb was built four miles from the old town. By 1970 a lot of the town residents moved out of the canyon and the town was falling into disrepair. Then later in the seventies there was a strong influx of young people, hippies is what they called them. They bought up some of the old buildings and started restortion of the old part of town. And "Old Bisbee" was declared a Historic Site.
BREWERY GULCH.
Most of the fine old brick buildings on Brewery Gulch and main street were built in the early 1900's. Well built and set on solid rock, they are still basically sound buildings. Brewery Gulch was once considered the hottest spot between El Paso and San Francisco. In 1881 A.B. Seiber had a small adobe saloon by his brewery. He cooled his beer in a large vault dug into the mountain. In a short time the population of 400 grew to thousands and Brewery Gulch became famous. At one time there were 64 bars in Bisbee. Deeper up the Gulch was the red light district. The girls became a legend. There was Crazy Horse Lil, who was called wildly immoral. Red Jean, could fight anyone, any size, and win. There was Black Jack who dressed like a man. Kate Elder was Doc Holliday's mistress. Ma Reilley ran a dance hall, and men killed over her. Brewery Gulch saw a population of 25,000 people. The gulch managed to survive the economic changes, but the 'catastrophe' which forced a change was, Arizonia becoming a dry state, in 1914, enacting prohibition before the rest of the country.
The gulch is still alive today, offering it's history to anyone who cares to look and listen. As the old timers say: 'The ghosts of the past are still there remembering the days gone by." Their existence was to real to ever die.
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