Copper Queen Mine Tour

The Copper Queen made Bisbee. Its ore ran about 23 percent copper when most mines of the era could profit from 8 to 10 percent, and from 1885 it was run by Phelps Dodge through the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company. In the early 1900s it was the most productive copper mine in Arizona.

Phelps Dodge closed Bisbee's underground mines in the summer of 1975. The mayor at the time pressed to open part of the Copper Queen to visitors, and volunteers cleared thousands of tons of fallen rock and re-timbered the old workings, supported by a federal Economic Development Administration grant to the City of Bisbee. The Queen Mine Tour opened on February 1, 1976, and more than a million people have taken it since.

The tour starts in the tour building just south of Old Bisbee's business district. You are issued a hard hat, a miner's headlamp and a safety vest, given a safety briefing, and then you climb onto an original mine train, straddling the bench seat as if you were riding a bicycle. The train goes about 1,500 feet into the mountain on a half-mile round trip with two stops. At one you get off and walk 300 feet along the tunnel, on a surface like a dirt road. At the other there is a flight of 36 steps; you can stay on the train with a guide if you prefer. Guides cover the methods, dangers and daily life of mining here.

It is cool underground, so bring a light sweater or jacket even in summer, and wear closed-toe shoes. Children under 6 are not allowed underground. Reservations are required, and you should arrive 30 minutes before your tour; call (520) 432-2071 to book. Groups of 10 or more need two weeks' notice.

Freeport-McMoRan, which bought Phelps Dodge in 2007, has since paid for cleanup of soil contaminated by earlier mining in the town.