Desert Messenger

22 www.DesertMessenger.com January 21, 2015 Local Resident • FREE Estimates Larry - Cell 928-273-3719 DAY NIGHT SHADES REPAIRED GUARANTEED WORK! Factory Parts! Factory Chords! READER'S OASIS BOOKS 690 E. Main - Quartzsite (one block east of Family Dollar) 928-927-6551 Dave's DIESEL DIAGNOSTIC SERVICE David Atherton 605-999-0720 • Pat Atherton 816-797-5460 Located at Quartzsite Marketplace 50 E. Kuehn DIESEL ENGINE MAINTENANCE CLASSES Nov., Dec. & Jan. • Limited Space Sign up fee. Call for information hey RVers! Stylists: Wilma, Lonnie & Lois Headhunters II "The Best Little Hairhouse" in Quartzsite! Cuts - Styles - Perms Colors - Walk-ins- Early Appointments WELCOME BACK SNOWBIRDS & Lonnie! 395 N. CENTRAL (Hwy. 95) Quartzsite "Where getting your hair done is fun!" 928-927-3543 "The Best Little Hairhouse" Wilma Mon. Tues. Wed. by Appointment Lois Wed. & Thurs. Lonnie Tues. & Thurs (starting Nov. 11th) ADVENTURES WITH ROCKS We can't live without it. Every person will use approximately 1500 pounds of copper in their lifetime. There are 50 pounds of copper in the average car, and about 400 pounds of copper in a standard house. There is copper in your microwave, refrigerator, comput- By Jenn Jedidiah Free for RocksInMyHead™ Copper: Arizona's Gold Rush er, and telephone. Copper is used in plumbing, fi ber optics, solar and wind power, generators, electronics, and medical technology. In fact, we, the state of Arizona, wouldn't even be here without copper. Many prospectors came to Arizona looking for silver and gold, but the majority of them moved on to Califor- nia and did not settle here. It was the early copper miners who settled and founded the towns, like Ajo, which was founded by a prospector named John Greenway. The towns of Ehrenberg, Poston, and Wickenburg were also originally founded and established as copper mining communities. Copper has been mined here since the 1500s. The native peoples mined copper to use for tools and weapons. In the late 1700's missionaries came to Arizona to establish missions and to mine and prospect in this area. Ari- zona Mining and Trading Company, our state's fi rst mining company, was established in August 1854. Large scale production copper mining began in 1872, by the Longfellow Cop- per Company near Morenci. In 1876, the completion of the Southern Pacifi c Railroad opened the door for Arizona's copper wealth to be transported to markets all over the world. While in other parts of the country, the rail- roads brought industry with them, here, the need to transport copper brought railroads to Arizona. Since 1910, Arizona has been the nation's top producer of copper, producing more than all the other 49 states com- bined. Copper mining on this scale helped the Arizona territory to achieve statehood in 1912. There are two great day trips that can be taken from Quartzsite to copper mining areas. One is to Planet Ranch and the other is to the ghost town of Swansea. The Planet Ranch area has over 100 copper mines. The area is rich in chrysacolla, and in several areas the chrysacolla deposits are on the sur- face, creating beautiful swirls of blue in the red/brown rhyolite. Planet Ranch itself has recently been pur- chased by Freeport McMoran and is no longer open to the public, but there are several mines located on public lands outside Planet Ranch boundaries that are accessible. Some very nice chrys- acolla with galena can be found there, as well as azurite and malachite. Swansea is the site of a former mining town and a location for processing and smelting the copper ore taken from the nearby mines. When mining opera- tions fi rst began, the lack of smelting facilities meant that the copper ore had to be sent away for smelting. Once the smelter was constructed in 1909, the town took the name of the previous location of the smelter they had used, and when the post offi ce was estab- lished on March 25, 1909, it was under the name of Swansea. At its peak in 1911, Swansea is said to have had a population of over 700 people and boasted an electric light company, an auto dealer, two cemeteries, a saloon, theaters, restaurants, barbershops, an insurance agent, a physician, and of course the local mining and smelt- ing facilities. Today, the ghost town boasts the remains of a railroad depot, a smelter, several mine shafts, two cemeteries, some restored miner's quarters, many stone foundations, and interesting tailings piles. Swansea is free and open to the public, and has interpretive signs at points of interest throughout the site. There is a camp- ing area at Swansea, as well as several places to camp in the desert surround- ing the ghost town. For directions and information about Planet Ranch and Swansea, visit Rock- sInMyHead at A37 in Rice Ranch, 605-376-8754. We have a great selection of chrysacolla, azurite, and malachite from Planet Ranch. We also carry equipment, books, supplies, tools, and more for all your rockhound- ing, gold prospecting, and lapidary adventures, plus lots of great rocks, fossils, and gemstones. We are open from 10am to 5pm, 7 days a week, and online at RocksInMyHead.com.

• Cover