Mine Tailings

We just returned from our first trip of the summer. We jumped in the truck and drove to my Mother-in-laws house. She lives in Silver City which is in the Gila Mountains. Like a lot of towns in NM it has old west history, beautiful scenery and more than it's share of California transplants who are gussying the town up. We didn't have time go and shop the historic downtown district this trip, which is full of art shops and funky eateries.

My MIL house is tucked away near a very small town called Pinos Altos in a juniper forest. I was commenting how on our quick trips over the last several years we hadn't really explored the local sites or taken the boys to any of them. They are getting to the age where we can take them to some of the local sites like the Gila Cliff Dwelling or my favorite the Catwalk. This trip was to help her with a project so we didnt' have much extra time. However on a trip out to see my husbands sister, we did stop and look at the Santa Rita Copper Mine in the Mimbres Valley. It is sparsely populated and on the drive out you see very little except the occasional house or small country bar. I find a certain beauty in the contrast of the dark green junipers and the dry yellow grass underneath. The monsoon season has started but they grass hasn't greened up yet here. While I am as anxious as anyone to see the hills green, I do find a beauty in the way they look now. Of course, I didn't think to grab my camera as we jetted out the door, but I had my phone with me and tried to snap a few pics of how the countryside looked to me.

We did stop at the Copper Mines viewing area to show the boys the open pit mine. It is one of those sites that is interesting and disturbing, beautiful and ugly all the same time. I recall my dad taking us to see it when I was a young girl. There was no activity on this day at all down in the mine. As we took in the scene, and read the informatinal signs I was telling the boys what I remember most about what I saw as a kid with all the dump trucks driving down in that mine that looked so small but they had a tire from one of the trucks in the viewing area. My 6'4" dad barely came up to the middle of the tire. Unfortantely the tire was gone but there were pictures of men standing next to one.

It was late afternoon and while we looked a mine employee showed up to shut the gate, he asked if we had any questions. I mentioned the tire I remembered as a kid and he was telling us that those tires currently cost $22,000 a piece and each truck has 6. They look like a typical dump truck in a picture but are 20' wide and 40' long.

I asked if the mine was still operational and he said no, that they might start up again depending on copper prices and the economy. He also elaborated that the mine was a very lonely place of late, there were still a few employees around in the offices and a couple of drivers to keep the mind from flooding during monsoons and guards. He said he had been a shift surpervisor and they used to employee over 900 people but now it was down around 30.

Overall we had a nice trip despite not being able to finish the project we started due to rain on Saturday. Hopefully we will make it back later in the summer and take in some more sights and I'll get the camera out the door with me next time for more pictures.