VOLUME 10 ISSUE 6
$5.99 NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2021 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now
Arizona’s Timeless Magazine
PAIR-A-DICE PARADOX: BEAUTIFUL WARREN VS. FUNKY BISBEE The Magnetic Attraction of Pinal County’s iron Deposits Arizona’s Crazy Plan to Use Atomic Bombs for Mining Glendale’s Underground Solution: An Urban Salt Mine Creatives Ignite a Copper Town Rebirth in Miami Globe’s Downtown Historic District That Copper Built The Inside scoop on East Africa’s Williamson Diamond Mine
Digging Into Arizona’s Mining Heritage
Dragging the Line:
Fred Sargent’s Mining Memories DCS Helps Queen Creek Stay atop Traffic Flow
5D Mining and Construction Reactivates Arizona Gold Mine
Phoenix’s Fab Place: Reuter Equipment Co.
Rough Aggregates make strong Concrete
New Agritopia Store Wins Air-Guitar Contest
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A Christmas
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Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history. Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2021 All rights reserved.
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Contributors – Buddy Escapule & Don Ryden From The Editor: Creatives Ignite a Copper Town Rebirth Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When - Mucking About in Wickenburg Douglas Towne Dragging the Line: Fred Sargent’s Mining Memories William Horner Sifting Through Sand: The Magnetic Attraction of Pinal County’s Placer Iron Deposits - Douglas Towne How Arizona Almost Got Nuked: Construction and Mining Using Atomic Bombs - Douglas Towne Glendale’s Underground Solution: An Urban Salt Mine Douglas Towne
Pair-A-Dice Paradox: Beautiful Warren Vs. Funky Bisbee Don W. Ryden AIA
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Old School Equipment: Dart Truck Company
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Building on the Past - 1969: Vulture Mine’s New Wealth
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Architect’s Perspective - Globe: Where Copper Was King Doug Sydnor, FAIA
Digging Through the Archives: The Williamson Diamond Mine - William Horner
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Bid Results
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Advertising Index
Front Cover Wives of two executives of the Atlas Consolidated Mining Co. stand in the Marion 201-M shovel dipper at the Island of Cebu Mine, Philippines, late 1970s. Fred Sargent sold the machine to Atlas, the largest copper producer in the Philippines, which was owned by the Soriano Group that also operated the country’s largest brewery, San Miguel. Article on page 48. twelve
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Contributors
Buddy Escapule Article on page 19
Don W. Ryden, AIA Article on page 74
B
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uddy is going on 17 years in construction, but this doesn’t include a childhood in which both sides of his family exposed him to the building industry. He was raised in Tombstone, where his father’s side of the family also worked in the mining and construction industry. Bill Noland, his grandfather on his mother’s side, is considered a top-notch bridge and concrete-structure builder in the Southwest. Following in his family’s footsteps, Buddy received his Class A General Engineering Contractor License two years ago. He then launched E&E Companies and purchased several vintage machines: a Caterpillar J621 scraper and Caterpillar 140G motor grader. He rents his equipment and operators to asphalt companies to perform finish work around the Valley. Buddy formerly worked full-time as a project manager for 5D Mining and Construction, based in Globe. He managed a gold-mining project for more than a year near the western Arizona town of Salome. Construction includesd building a 4-acre leach pad and a 4-million-gallon capacity pond to produce gold using a cyanide heap leach process. Prospectors discovered gold at the site in 1888, and it became known as the Harquahala Mine. The remote operation is popular as a flyover destination for area pilots. He wrote an article on this project for this issue of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine.
his is my story about how a passion for place led me to a career building harmony through heritage conservation. I was born between two architectural eras in mid-1950 Phoenix. Friends say I am not old but rather Midcentury Modern. Since 5th-grade Career Day, I believed I was a real architect with three gifts: I can draw well, see the unseen obvious all around me, and clearly connect dots for others. Architecture college gave me modern education but little traditional enlightenment. Encouraged by my loving family, I found for myself faith and philosophy deep inside architecture. My words, drawings, and buildings all are stories about sustaining heritage and environment. You can learn about the architecture of optimism from my book, Midcentury Marvels: Commercial Architecture of Phoenix 1945-1975. You’ll see that historic preservation is not like sealing pickles in a jar to keep but rather like nurturing sourdough starter in a bowl to share. And in that sharing, I have been honored with the 1994 Arizona Governor’s Award for Individual Achievement in Historic Preservation and the 2012 AIA Arizona Architects Medal. Ryden Architects, Inc. was acclaimed as AIA Arizona Firm of the Year 2008. None of this could I achieve without the help of my beautiful wife, Lise, and the inspiration of our talented sons, Erik and Kirk.
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Arizona Contractor & Community
Creatives Ignite a Copper Town Rebirth Douglas Towne
“G
Images courtesy of Author
o West, young man,” was the prudent advice journalist Horace Greeley gave Americans looking for economic opportunities in the mid-1800s. Some Phoenix artists, however, are rebelling against this guidance and heading east. Their surprising destination is a place where “high-rises” consist of headframes and smokestacks. “I have always found mining towns to have so much character, you can still feel their history,” says Steph Carrico, a Phoenix
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artist and teacher who recently purchased a fixer-upper in Miami, Arizona. “The weather is a little cooler in the summer, the 75-minute drive from Downtown Phoenix is beautiful, and as a photographer, there is so much to capture. I love Prescott and Flagstaff, but I would not be able to afford a second home in those towns.” Located at the base of the Pinal Mountains, Miami is nestled amidst extensive mine workings and the Tonto National Forest. The town is following the trend of
Top left: Keystone Avenue in Miami, 1920s. Below: Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co. in Miami, 1966. Below left: Maureen Towne at the Traveler’s Hotel bar, which featured “Real Mixed Drinks” so powerful that they shattered the plate glass window, 2000. Bottom left: Defunct neon sign for the Traveler’s Hotel / Real Buffet, 2021.
Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community
Image courtesy of Western Mining history
Editor’s Column:
other Arizona copper camps such as Bisbee and Jerome that have found second acts. But Miami is doing this while active mining continues, albeit at a reduced level from past boom times. In the late 1870s, silver deposits enticed the first residents to the Miami area. Within a decade, prospecting shifted to the area’s copper porphyry deposits, in which the mineral is disseminated through the ore body rather than concentrated in veins. A major reduction plant to process the copper opened in 1915, which led to the community being nicknamed “Concentrator City.” By World War I, copper production was in full swing, and Miami was booming. Underground mining continued through World War II and then ore extraction evolved into open-pit operations. Production has since shifted to solvent extraction and electrowinning, processes used for low-grade ore and that require a smaller workforce. As mining waned in Miami, some businesses closed and it was not uncommon for residents to abandon their homes. The town’s more notable commercial demises include three personal favorites. First, Pat’s Sleeping Beauty Bar was located along U.S. Highway 60 and named after a peak north of Miami that yielded impressive turquoise
November December 2021
Image courtesy of Western Mining history
Images courtesy of Author Image courtesy of Library of Congress
specimens. Second, Chalo’s La Paloma Café, or “the Dove,” located on Sullivan Street was once the go-to place for chili rellenos. Finally, down the street, the boarded-up Travelers Hotel that opened in 1918 featured an impressive buffet, once regional verbiage for a smorgasbord dedicated to drinking and dancing. Miami’s current population of almost 2,000 residents is a far cry from its peak of nearly 7,700 during the 1930s. But the infrastructure that’s leftover offers exciting prospects for those interested in rehabbing faded architectural gems. In addition, these unique residential and commercial properties are convenient to the Phoenix metro area and much more affordable.
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As is often the case with neglected communities, artists are the intrepid pioneers bringing life back to the structures; they often see possibilities others ignore. Carrico has followed friends Michael and Joanna Twenty-three, who previously ran the Downtown Phoenix art spaces Thought Crime and The Firehouse on First Street. The couple has opened Soda Pops retro soda fountain and the Miami Art Works store in historic commercial buildings on Sullivan Street. Carrico, who co-founded The Trunk Space in Downtown Phoenix, has opted to rehab a two-story residential structure with a surprising past. “The house I bought, it turns out, was a brothel back in the day,” she says. “I love
Top left: Pat’s Sleeping Beauty Bar along U.S. Highway 60, 1991. Above left: La Paloma Café, 1991. Above: Miami, 1952. Bottom: Copper processing in Miami, 1940.
how much of it is still as it existed in 1926 when it was built.” She plans to transform it into a summer and weekend getaway by preserving its original features, albeit with a few upgrades to make it more functional, such as adding a second bathroom. Carrico envisions the place becoming an artist retreat for friends too. “I’d like to put in a darkroom, a writing table with a typewriter, a sewing machine, and a place to paint,” she says. “I know sometimes getting away from my routine gives me the time and inspiration to do creative work; I would like to offer that to other artists.” Miami’s evolution has begun, and it’s extended beyond Carrico and her friends. Others in town are making banjos, teardrop trailers, and who knows what else. Carrico hopes the transition builds upon, rather than overwhelms, what the community currently offers. “I feel like more and more artists and craftspeople are moving out to Miami, and my hope is it’ll continue to become a place for creatives while still maintaining its charming Wild West ghost town feel,” she says. If you want to check out the hidden treasures of Miami, here’s an inside tip. The mining town’s locals pronounce it as “My-AM-uh.” Not to be confused with that other “My-AM-ee” in Florida. But don’t fret if you mess up. “So far, the people I have met in Miami are kind,” Carrico says. “It is definitely a small town, and everyone seems to know everyone.” Arizona Contractor & Community
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Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA
Buddy Escapule
M
odern-day alchemists are turning waste rock into gold at the historic Harquahala Mine, located in western Arizona between the town of Salome and Interstate 10. Their work has not gone unnoticed by the local snowbird population, which has gone perhaps a bit too fanboy over the project. “We have seasonal visitors riding their off-road vehicles to the project in hoards to watch us work,” Colby Johnston, a haul truck driver, says. “That’s cool, but they even try to drive through the project while our large equipment is moving materials, which is dangerous for everyone.” arizcc.com
Besides curious snowbirds, workers on the mine project have had to contend with scorching 118-degree temperatures, cold 30-degree mornings, and the daunting logistics of doing construction in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert, far from supplies and resources. But with gold prices hovering around $1,800 an ounce, the challenges are worth it to the mine’s new co-owners, Bonanza Mining Company and Tombstone Exploration Corporation. The reactivation of the Harquahala Mine, which has yielded gold since colonial days, is a fascinating $1.5 million, two-year project to extract wealth from old mining tailings. Above: The town of Harqua Hala, 1909. Right: An early 20th-century tunnel at the Harquahala Mine, 2020.
Image courtesy of Author
Cyanide is the Solution to Reopening La Paz County Gold Mine
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Located near the foot of Martin Peak at the southwest end of the Harquahala Mountains, the Harquahala Mine first produced gold in the 1760s. Spanish prospectors discovered the deposit, but its remote location and hostile Native American tribes limited the mine’s development until the 1880s. Significant production at the mine began in 1893 when the Harqua Hala Mining Co. acquired the property. The company assembled a 20-stamp amalgamation
Employee Spotlight: Stoney Gerdes and Cephus, the Raven Favorite job task: Running the machine shop in Globe. Toughest job task: Working the pond cut and ripping through hard rock with a D7 dozer. Most memorable day of work: The morning safety meetings, as Cephus the Raven would go to each crew member and peck at their feet and bite their shoelaces, then return to me and run his head on my pants leg. Favorite off-job task: Camping at the project and exploring the surrounding terrain. arizcc.com
mill and an onsite processing facility, which allowed it to cast 400-pound gold ingots, the sizable weight of which reduced theft. The town of Harqua Hala was built nearby to support the mine. The community featured a newspaper, the Harqua Hala Miner, and was connected by stagecoach to Sentinel, a settlement located near Gila Bend. The mine’s high-grade ore was exhausted by 1897, and large-scale production ended in 1918. The gold mine operated sporadically, also yielding silver and minor amounts of lead and copper until closing in 1932. Over the years, Harquahala Mine produced more than 2 million dollars of gold, developed several hundred feet of shafts and tunnels. The main shaft was 600 feet deep and branched off in drifts on seven different levels. Since then, several companies have evaluated the site for mining potential, including two around the time gold peaked at $595 an ounce in 1980, a price not seen again until 2006. Cave Creek Mining Co. submitted plans to the state to approve a 5,000-ton cyanide heap leach operation using old tailings in 1982. In 1984 Peter Kiewit Inc. began geological exploration at the mine site, which included surface drilling searching for untapped veins. But it took Bonanza Mining Company and Tombstone Exploration Corporation, who recently purchased the property, to bring the mine back to life. The owners are building a 450,000-ton cyanide heap leach operation with a 4-acre lined leach pad
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
Images courtesy of AZ Offroad Image courtesy of Author
Above: Smithco Industries stacking goldbearing ore onto leach pad, 2020. Top right: Harqua Hala cemetery, 2020. Right: An abandoned building in Harqua Hala, 2020.
and a 4-million-gallon capacity catchment pond. The mining process includes crushing, agglomerating, and stacking tailings piles that weren’t rich enough to be milled and processed during the mine’s heyday. The ore will be cyanide leached to precipitate the gold, and the solution pumped through a series of carbon columns, which will be shipped offsite to have the metal stripped and processed. The owners obtained the necessary aquifer protection permits from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. D2 Survey, headquartered in Florence, Arizona, did the surveying and staking. 5D Mining and Construction, a Globe, Arizona company, had equipment brought in and built the lined leach pad and catchment pond, starting in June 2020. The company moved an estimated 50,000 cubic yards of material to create a pond to the required depth and brought the east end of the leach pad to grade for proper drainage toward the pond. Water, a challenge throughout the Harquahala Mine’s history, was again a significant hurdle. Initially, water was hauled to the site by a 4,000-gallon truck making a 14-mile roundtrip. Historic mill operations had left processed material that consisted of a fine powder, so dust control was a priority. In three months, 5D Mining completed the mass grading in preparation for two 60-millimeter liners with a geomesh fabric between them. An Avondale company, Field Lining Solutions, installed more than Arizona Contractor & Community