Morenci  - Greenlee County

 

County: Greenlee County

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Dates:  1865 - Present

 

Noted Aspects of Town:

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History:  

 

Early History

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Phelps Dodge & Company:  

 

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Phelps Dodge Copper Strike 1983 - 1986:  

 

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People:  

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Mines Supporting Town:

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What you will see today:  TBD

 

Acknowledgement: TBD, Kevin Baker

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My Experiences:  

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Childhood Memories:

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Shopping - As a young child I remember visiting my grandparents in their Morenci home and getting to go to the five and dime store at the shopping center owned by Phelps Dodge.  I was excited to visit the store and would go to an area along the wall that had all kinds of small toys for kids that were 5 cents and 10 cents.  Of course my sister and I could always find something we wanted.  The loot consisted of rubber bouncing balls, yo-yo's, and army men with parachutes.  We would beg our grandparents for a toy each time they took us to the store.  We also had to endure the grocery store but it was worth it to us kids because we got to visit the five and dime.

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Mining - During a weekend visit to my grandparents Morenci house when I was very young, I remember it had a very small back yard that backed up to a cliff.  Being the young boy I was exploring my grandparents house, I came across a pick in my grandfathers shed and wanted to try out my luck in mining.  I took the pick and started digging in the shale cliff at the back of my grandparents yard with grand ideas of digging a tunnel.  I worked for a while chipping away at the cliff and it seemed to be easy work as the shale wall broke away fairly easily with each swing of the pick.  I continued chipping away at the wall with this oversize pick, making a nice collection of rock at my feet.  All the while I pictured a tunnel in my grandparents back yard that I had made and would continue on my next visit.  The adults were inside probably playing "Shoot the Moon" with the dominos as I remember growing up.

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I continued chipping away making progress on my tunnel hoping I would not be called in for dinner anytime soon.  As I chipped away and was beginning to feel like I was accomplishing my goal I was hit on the head from above.  Before I realized what was happening there was rocks falling all around me and I was covering my head with the pick falling to the ground.  Fortunatley, I had only made progressed about 8 inches into the cliff and the falling shale consisted of small chunkes of rock.  That day, I learend a valuable lesson about underground mining and respect for the men that worked in the mines.

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I returned the pick to its location and went into the house to see if dinner was ready.  I never tried tunneling in my grandparents back yard again.

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More to come......