The Idiots did something differently this trip. OK... true, that is not unusual... the Idiots are “different' most of the time! But in this case... the Idiots don't pull a tow car behind “The Beast” so anytime they want to go exploring, they have to disconnect all the hookups – and it is certainly not the ideal vehicle for back roads. So... since they were never going to more than 2 ½ hours from home, Idiot He drove the Beast and Idiot She followed, driving the Jeep to provide freedom to explore.
Day 3 proved this was a winning idea. The Jeep went places the Beast never could. Dirt roads, tight turns, washes and potholes that could strand an RV with a broken axle or worse – the Jeep took in stride.
Over sixty years ago, Idiot He started collecting rocks. He and his buddies hit on an interesting scheme – they wrote to many state tourism offices across the country explaining they were collectors and asking for any information they could get about the geology and mineralogy of the state. Some states ignored them, or sent a nondescript brochure, but a few sent lots of information and, sometimes, a sample. Sure, a piece of coal from Pennsylvania was no big deal, but it was fun to get things in the mail, and Idiot He knew his grandfather worked mining that coal in Pennsylvania when he came from Poland to America in the early 1900s, so it had some personal connection.
But Arizona – with Arizona they hit the jackpot. Along with maps and full-color brochures, Arizona sent a nice box with 9 good rock samples, all carefully labeled and nestled in cotton. Idiot He was fascinated with Arizona rocks long before He ever laid eyes on the place. Though He loves the mountains and sunsets and sweeping panoramas, he never goes anywhere without spending some time looking down at his feet, scanning for rocks.
The Idiots have camped at Arizona's Rockhound State Park, but were surprised to learn there are two official rockhounding sites on BLM land in Southeastern Arizona where the public is welcome to collect up to 25 pounds of samples a day and up to 250 pounds a year, as long as it is not for commercial purposes. Their first stop on Day 3 was the Black Hills Rockhound Area in the mountains east of Safford. They knew it was famous among collectors for its abundance of fire agates. Unfortunately, in the rush to get ready to travel, in true Idiot style, they neglected to look up pictures of what fire agates look like in nature.
After negotiating a couple miles of tortured mountain track, they parked next to a sign indicating they were in the right place and started to work their ways into the rocky, uneven high desert terrain. They started picking up rocks, not sure what they were looking for. Eventually they figured out that there were many pieces of chalcedony – a “bubbly” kind of quartz that sometimes has brightly colored inclusions that can be opalescent, making them fire agates. They picked up some samples but did not find any good fire agates. After a bit they realized they didn't have food and water and proper footwear for a long slog, so they moved on to other explorations, but with plans to return better prepared in the future.
Highway 191 across the White Mountains is part of the designated Coronado Trail. Coronado's story is truly remarkable. He crossed into what is now the US from the south in 1540 – less than 50 years after Columbus first voyage – leading a large group of settlers across what is now Arizona, New Mexico, and Kansas.
Traversing the mountains on highway 191 today, one starts to see some unusual variations in shape and coloration in the Gila River valley. Getting closer to Clifton, it becomes clear that the town is built on and around the great Morenci Copper Mine.
Morenci is a name to conjure with. Not only is it Arizona's largest mine, sitting on one of the largest copper deposits in the world – it is also known as the source of Morenci turquoise. The semi-precious gemstone urquoise is actually a copper ore – made up of phosphates of copper and aluminum. The turquoise from Morenci is a particularly bright, hard blue stone, often with shiny pyrite running through it. It is all the more prized because the turquoise deposits played out in the early 1970s and there is a limited supply.
Any time a photographer takes a vista like this, they should remember to also look down at the often-ignored details at their feet - in this case, a whole hillside of tiny red plants thriving in an otherwise barren rock environment.
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The Idiots wander a lot. So do their stories. Feel free to skip to the travel photos if you don't have time for a story...
Deadwood is an old mining town in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Much of the historic downtown and most of its charm was destroyed in a fire in 1987, but prior to that many of the buildings were shabby remnants from the gold rush in the late 1800s. Not far from Nuttal & Mann's Saloon - where Wild Bill Hickok laid down his last poker hand, aces and eights, shot in the back by cowardly Jack McCall - was an odd little shop... not much more than a door and small window facing the street, called the Insanity Rock Shop. The Idiots dropped in for the first time in the 1970s. Behind the counter sat an elderly woman named Marjorie Yates Price.
They got to chatting and learned that they shared a background in teaching. Marjorie taught art in the Minneapolis schools for several decades. In addition to rocks, the shop displayed the results of a life spent exploring art media - painted plates, sculptures, jewelry – and even a simple self-illustrated autobiography entitled “Daughter of the Gold Camp/Legends of the Western Indian”.
The Idiots learned that Marjorie was born in Deadwood in 1898, the daughter of a famous mining engineer pivitoal to the development of the Homestake gold mine. Her family moved from mine to mine, including a period when her father was the chief engineer at the Morenci mine. She grew up in a series of rough-and-tumble boom towns, playing with miner's children from many nations amidst the chaos of frontier life and piles of tailings.
After retiring from teaching and the death of her third husband, she returned to her home town and opened her minuscule shop to keep busy and to share her love of rocks and jewelry with additional generations. Many were the children who left her shop carrying a special gift rock and, more importantly, a seed of Marjorie's enthusiasm for all things natural.
When Idiot She admired the rustic turquoise bracelet Marjorie was wearing, she took it off and explained that it was Morenci turquoise which was no longer being mined.. She cut the stone from a large chunk her family used as a doorstop for many decades. After suggesting She try it on, Marjorie said it looked better on a younger woman and sold it to her for a very nominal price. It is one of Idiot She's prized possessions. A circle was closed when Idiot She visited Morenci wearing the bracelet.
Morenci Turquoise with pyrite inclusions, set in sterling silver
The Idiots visited Marjorie several more times over the years. By the end, she was quite infirm and nearly blind. The shop was going to shambles, but her mind was still sharp. When they dropped in after an absence of several years, Marjory took a moment to consider them and then said “Let's see... you're the folks from Minneapolis – and you have been neglecting me!” Marjorie probably chatted with thousands of people each summer, but she always made the Idiots feel special.
One more Marjorie story. During one visit, she was regaling the Idiots with stories about her recent travels in Central and South America, visiting mines and buying stones. Her eyes lit up like a little kid and and she leaned in conspiratorially and said “Do you want to see some emeralds?!” The Idiots agreed enthusiastically, assuming there would be some kind of visit to a safety deposit box at the bank. But no – Marjorie reached under the counter and pulled out a cigar box and then proceeded to remove a series of little cloth bags, each containing a gemstone she had purchased from a miner in some far flung place. The emeralds were rough stones in matrix from Brazil - not high grade gem materials, but beautiful.
Idiot She asked if she could purchase one, and if Marjorie would create the setting for a pendant. Marjorie thought about it and said that the stone in question really needed to be set in gold, not silver – and that she was too infirm to work in gold anymore. She sketched a drawing on a sheet from a little spiral notebook and suggested the Idiots take the stone and the drawing to a nice young man in a nearby shop who was trying to get a jewelry business established and who could work in gold. Alas – his store was closed for lunch and the Idiots couldn't stay longer.
Marjorie said she'd talk with you young man and she would write to the Idiots about the project. They didn't hear anything for about two months, then a package appeared in their mailbox. It was the emerald, set in gold, along with a very apologetic note about how the cost as gold had spiked in price since they had last spoken. Marjorie said she didn't know if the Idiots wanted to spend as much as it cost, so they should take a look and either send her a check or return the emerald. We later chastised her for being too trusting, not asking for a deposit and mailing a valuable piece of jewelry to relative strangers. She corrected them, saying she wasn't at all trusting of people who didn't deserve it - but that she was a pretty good judge of character. “I wouldn't steal from you – why would I think you might steal from me?!”
Raw Brazilian emerald in black matrix with iron pyrite (“Fool's Gold”) inclusions, set in gold
Marjorie lived in her little cabin in Spearfish Canyon until near the end of her life. She died in 1991 at the age of 93. Her ashes were spread in her beloved Black Hills and the Idiots still sense her spirit whenever they visit there.
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But back to Arizona! The Morenci mine has a remarkable history. The first pits were excavated in 1872 and production has continued almost continuously since. Over the years the excavations have expanded, carving the mountains into fantastic shapes with spirals, terraces... even a ziggurat! People live in neighborhoods that cling to the hillsides and terraces, moving as new ore veins are excavated. In the 1980s, the old smelting process was abandoned in favor of a leaching process using sulfuric acid. Since 2001 they've employed a process that uses bacteria to separate the copper from the ore.
The statistics are staggering. Something like 30 billion pounds of copper have been extracted over the years, with almost a billion being added to that total each year! There is a small area of historic buildings, while most of the modern housing is simple mine-owned manufactured homes perched on ledges carved into the hillsides. The county gets over 90% of its revenue from the mining operations, so this is a true “company town.”
There is just something about old windows that demands a photographer's attention.
There has to be a story to go with an old carved wooden owl wearing a baseball cap... readers should feel free to invent their own...
The Idiots intended to head back to their campground with plenty of time for drinks and perhaps a nap before sunset. But then they saw a sign that prompted nailing the brakes and making a hard right turn onto a dirt road.
Who could resist that kind of invitation? Have Jeep – Will Travel! Besides... it is only 21 miles, so it's a shortcut!
The Black Hills National Back Country Biway is a narrow dirt road that winds its way through the mountains, around and up and down a series of ridges and with one major river crossing, It follows the route of the old road that connected the mining area with the fertile land and supplies in Safford.
The driving would be challenging under any conditions, but the Idiots found themselves making slow progress driving directly west into an ever-lowering sun. Hairpin turns on steep cliffs with no guardrails take on a special challenge when it is difficult to see and the road is too narrow for vehicles to pass each other and one never knows what is around the corner. Throw in open range cattle who consider the road to be their own... and even a lone horse who was unwilling to grant the Idiots passage... and you've got a pretty fine recipe for adventure! The Idiots lucked out, not seeing another vehicle in two hours of backcountry driving.
There are fascinating historical details all along the trail. For example, the Idiots noticed what looked like low, long rock walls stretching across steep hillsides. They learned that these were constructed by the CCC in the 1930s as an experiment in preventing erosion. They succeeded and continue to perform valuable service.
The Gila River is a rarity – a year-round source of water in an otherwise arid desert. The Old Safford Bridge is a wonder – this engineering marvel, a luten arch bridge with ornate balustrades was built by prison labor in 1918 across a narrow gorge and was an important link between the mines and Safford a century ago. In spite of its remote location, it was restored in 1997 and is one of only a few historic bridges in Arizona that retain their character from more than a century past.
The stark hillsides at the higher elevations surprise visitors with giant fields of prickly pear cactus that glow in the light of the setting sun.
The “shortcut” took the Idiots twice as long as they had estimated – two hours for 21 miles - and they hit pavement just minutes before the sun went below the horizon. It was a tough, exhausting drive leavened with more than a little danger. Their response?
“Should we do it again tomorrow?!”
