Queen of the Copper Camps
Mining is the foundational legacy of Bisbee, once celebrated as the “Queen of the Copper Camps” for producing over eight billion pounds of copper alongside significant yields of gold, silver, and lead. The Jonquil Motel is located within a short walk of many of the most interesting mining attractions in the city.
Bisbee Mining Attractions
-
Bisbee Lavender Pit
The Lavender Pit is a massive, man-made open-pit mine that serves as a dramatic, colorful monument to Bisbee’s industrial past and a powerful reminder of the vast scale of the copper mining operations that defined the town for decades.
-
Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum
The Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, offers engaging exhibits that chronicle the town’s rise as a bustling mining center and the diverse social history of its inhabitants.
-
Bisbee Queen Mine Tour
Visitors can don hard hats and slickers to journey deep underground into a horizontal shaft of the actual former copper mine on the popular Queen Mine Tour attraction, learning about the miners’ experiences and the town’s rich industrial history.
-
Bisbee Minerals & Gems
Bisbee is world-renowned among collectors for producing some of the finest quality azurite and turquoise specimens, earning its historic designation as the “Copper Queen” of mineral sources.
-
Bisbee Mining Ruins & Relics
Visitors exploring the hillsides around Bisbee can discover numerous preserved mining ruins, headframes, and historical relics that silently attest to the industrious legacy and engineering feats of the town’s copper mining boom days.
-
Caves of Bisbee
While not technically “caves,” the hillsides surrounding Bisbee are honeycombed with countless abandoned shafts, tunnels, and mining adits left over from a century of excavation.