So we did finally head down the hill into Jerome. It's not every day that you see 1800rpm with 200* EGT:
So we got into Jerome and started looking for somewhere to eat. It was a Wednesday, but the place was still packed. We ended up heading up to the old UVCC company hospital that has been refurbished into a nice hotel and restaurant.
It is built at about the highest point in town so the views off of the balcony we ate on were magnificent.
That black stuff in the center of the picture down in the valley is in a town called Clarkdale. When the mine transitioned from tunnel/shaft mining to open pit, the mill had to be moved so UVCC created the company town of Clarkdale. The pile of black stuff is the slag pile from the new mill that was built down there. The two buildings that are at the right end of the pile are railroad buildings. There is an old roundhouse down there too. I have some old film pics but no digitals to post of that. It is kind of cool from a history buff standpoint.
So, just out of sight to the right of the picture is another mine. It was located at the bottom of town and was called the Little Daisy Mine. There is a state park in the old Douglas mansion on site, but for some reason it was closed that day. The coolest part of the mansion is the 3-d model that was built as part of litigation that shows all of the tunnels and shafts under the town. It is super cool, but no pics because they were closed.
One thing that was open that I have never seen open before was the old headframe on the Little Daisy Mine.
This is the car that transported men and material down to the tunnels:
If you look between the headframe on the left and the red headframe on the right there is a grey hill in the background. That is the United Verde Copper Company mine--the one that started as tunnel and shaft that became an open pit. I guess a bit of geologic history is in order now. Once upon a time, about a hundred million years ago (give or take a few), the valley that Jerome occupies the side of was formed by sea floor spreading deepunder an ocean. Well, some individual figured that some of the ore that they were mining at the UVCC mine had slid down into the valley when the rift valley was formed. He was right.
This facility has always been fenced off and locked up--until now. The gate was open so we wandered in. I was surprised to find that the shaft had a glass lid on it with high power lights pointing down.
It is a bit un-nerving standing there and looking between your feet and knowing that the next solid thing under your feet after the glass is 1900' down.
Gratuitous truck shot for good measure:
The building in the background is the Little Daisy Hotel. It was built to house the workers in the mine. Over thirty years ago (as long as I have been going to Jerome) this building was sold for scrap. It appears as though someone is renovating the place so maybe some day it will be a hotel again.
