Discover Ajo, AZ: New Cornelia Mine & Bates Well Ranch at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- Join us as we explore Ajo, Arizona, uncovering the history of the New Cornelia Mine and visiting Bates Well Ranch in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, delving into the region's rich mining and ranching heritage.
Ajo, Arizona, is a small town with a rich history rooted in mining and ranching. Located in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, Ajo's picturesque setting is marked by its unique Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, a testament to its mining boom in the early 20th century. The town's charm lies in its combination of historical significance and natural beauty, making it a fascinating destination for history enthusiasts and nature lovers alike.
The New Cornelia Mine is a central part of Ajo's identity. Once one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, it played a pivotal role in the town's development. The mine began operations in the early 1900s and quickly became a major economic driver for the region. Today, while the mine is no longer active, its massive open pit remains a striking landmark. Visitors can learn about the mining process and the impact it had on the local community through various exhibits and tours offered in the area.
Just a short drive from Ajo is the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, home to the historic Bates Well Ranch. This ranch offers a glimpse into the ranching lifestyle that once thrived in this arid landscape. Established in the late 19th century, Bates Well Ranch served as a vital water source and resting spot for cowboys and cattle. The ranch buildings and corrals have been preserved, allowing visitors to step back in time and experience the rugged life of early ranchers.
Together, Ajo, the New Cornelia Mine, and Bates Well Ranch offer a multifaceted exploration of Arizona's historical and natural heritage. Whether you're delving into the mining history of Ajo, marveling at the engineering feats of the New Cornelia Mine, or immersing yourself in the rugged beauty of Bates Well Ranch and the surrounding desert, this region promises a rich and rewarding experience.
VIDEO FILMED: 05/01/2024
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00:00 Ajo, Arizona
08:17 New Cornelia Mine
32:14 Bates Well Ranch
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Welcome to the Cactus Atlas! We are Glenn and Amy and invite you to join us as we visit all sorts of locations across the American West. We tour both natural and man-made attractions.
Our base of operations is in the Phoenix, AZ area. We do a lot of hiking, day trips, and campground reviews and hope that we will be a great resource if you are planning a trip to the American West. We also hope to delight you with our exciting adventures!
My Momma lived in Ajo from 1937 to 1950 with her family of nine! Thompson Street was named after my maternal great grandparents!! My grandfather, his brothers and many family members worked in the mine. Grandpa was an electrician along with one of his younger brothers with the next to the youngest being a train engineer. Love this video!! When I was a teenager the train was still running between Ajo and Buckeye and we got to ride in the dinky!!!
Fascinating! Lots of history there for you! Thank you for sharing. And what we wouldn't give to go back in time and ride that train as well. 😄
We are limited due to expenses right now and your travels are much appreciated to see the World!
Thank you! That means so much. We're always happy to "bring" people along with us each week. 😊
I love Ajo, have many good memories of living there seasonally. Thanks for taking me along on your Ajo adventure.
Anytime! Gotta know what it's like living there. Seems to interesting!
I have a lot of memories of Ajo. We lived there from @1952 to 1958. Thank you for the old pictures.
Anytime! 😊
My dad worked as a large equipment mechanic at the mine in the early 50's. At night he would take us to watch the dumping of the tailings which were on fire. For a young child it was an awesome site.
On FIRE??? 😲
Molten rock. Slag they call it. Was neat to see at night :)
Thx for the video... yep ......our consumables are either grown or mined,.....when we are done mining on this planet.....lets move to the next one......our survival depends on it 😁
Recently discovered your channel. We have extremely similar interests on vacation/exploration spots. Thanks for all of the ideas for my summer trips!
Welcome aboard! Sounds like an exciting summer coming up for you! 😄
I lived in Ajo for 20 years, all my family is from there. Wish it gave to the people more opportunities. Really miss the quiet, slow living though 🌵
Not to belabor the point, but when we started strip mining, we didn't know the long-term ramifications. The best we can do is learn from our mistakes and move forward-and now I'm off my soapbox. Thanks for another amazing trip around Arizona!
Very true. Lots of time to slowly learn the effects as well as time for societal needs to change to where we need more resources. 😔
Thanks again for another fantastic tour.
Our pleasure! Thanks to you as well!
We are new subscriber to your channel and find these broadcast not only informational but also very educational, I will be telling my friends and family to subscribe to your channel.
PS My husband is a schoolteacher, and said he's learned quite a bit about the history of Arizona. Also we travel Arizona quite a bit.
Keep up the good work!😀
Wow! Thanks and welcome! So kind of you! 😊
What a nice and picturesque little town. Like all the views, especially the railway station!! Thanks for the invite. Hi Amy. Thanks to you guys because I get to see other places and experience adventure s. Take care n on to the next one.
It's so fun finding the old photos and realizing so little has changed. 😁
Thanks for sharing. The wall artwork is amazing ❤
You are so welcome! We enjoy it too. 😊
Excellent! Brings back memories. Been all over Az., lived 50 years there. The desert was my teacher. Thank you for sharing . Love it. Great music also.
Thank you! Love to hear that! 😄
Beautiful scenic drive and great explore. Thanks for taking us along!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! 😊
Nice video. I visited Ajo during their March festival a few years ago and loved the town. Friendly residents. One of the few places I was genuinely sad to leave. Hope to get back there again soon.
So do we. A lot of the time, we don't have time to just wander as much as we'd like. 😅
We camped for the last 2 weeks of February on Darby Wells road and saw 4, yes4! of the very rare and elusive Sonoran Pronghorn
Oh. WOW! And two weeks? How tremendous! Kinda jealous, really..! 😄
I enjoyed this video, as well as your previous ones! Ajo looks like it’s such an interesting and lovely little community to explore. And the desert terrain in the area is so beautiful, as always! I know you must get frizzled when you're on the road a lot! We do appreciate you and your efforts to make these great videos, though, if it ever feels like “why am I doing this?” 😀 Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! And we appreciate your kind kind words. 😊
Great video. I live close to aho and now plan to visit.
That's awesome! We hope that you have a fun time! 😊
We really enjoyed this episode, as we do most of yours! Been to Ajo a few times and it is a beautiful little town.
It really is! Thanks for watching! 🙂
You mentioned the interesting architecture. Do a video of the old Historic Homes built by the mine from 1916-1958.
The fact is very simple, most of the mining operations are owned/controlled by a handful of people. When labour strikes in one region, they close the mine and increase production in another location. I've lived in Arizona for 60 years, this is a regular tactic. The ore will be there, just shift the market from north to south America.....RF
I have to imagine that there's plenty of mines with ore just sitting there still.
Let me know if you get a solid answer about your drone flight question. From what I read in studying for my TRUST certificate you are allowed to fly from outside the park. One NPS official even stated they can't really enforce anything that takes place outside the park. State trust land should be differentiated from a national park because they are completely separate land use rules and regulations. It wouldn't make sense if you had to follow NPS rules on state trust land that it wouldn't just be incorporated into the park. You never know with government though. You still couldn't fly over the park but you might be able to get some cool shots from higher up.
You're the reason I ended up with a drone, thanks for that LOL. I love your videos and enjoy following along on your journeys.
Have yet to get a solid answer, but hat's kind of our thinking too. However, given that we put content out on the internet, we try to play things safer. 😅
I enjoyed your Ajo, AZ area tour. The town of Ajo isn't at all what I expected. It is a pretty place, with everything neat and clean, and with streets cleverly laid out. Your comment about the 1970's copper miners' strike got me to wondering. In about 1970 I saw the Bisbee pit mine in operation, and still recall that the truck loads of ore coming out of the gigantic pit looked like sugar ants in comparison to the pit width! But I now wonder if that strike shut down all of these mines to this day?
Probable. The price of copper at that time had an effect on a lot of mines around that time.
In the 70s, thierwere a few families that left
Ajo, moved into kearny & work at the copper mine in Ray
Good group of people
Looks like a very safe stadium. One that wont collapse like has happened in the past with improperly engineered stadiums.
Have you ever been to the Ray complex ? That place is huge and you take a pretty sketchy paved rode out of the town of Superior to the mine.
We have not, no. So many places, so little time. 😅
Spectacular as always
Next time u go to West Texas near Marfa
Check out Pinto Canyon Road
You take a paved Ranch road south for several miles
Then off road for maybe about 15 miles to Ruidosa along the Rio Grande
Thank you!
Will keep it in mind. Not sure the next time we'll be out that way but hoping it wasn't the last.
@@CactusAtlas Btw
Rio Grande at Santa Elena canyon is bone dry again
Well, dang! I'm guessing the water must fluctuate quite a bit. It's quite an experience to walk through when dry but knowing it's not supposed to be that way... 😔
@@CactusAtlas I believe there is a water fight between Mexico /Texas
Diversion to farmland issues plus been lil dry out that way
Is that the dirt road that ends at the little town of Calandra (not sure of the spelling)?
Hello from Three Points AZ ! Up the road a tad from you. Sahuarita has a large amount of mining residue also.
Been through many times but haven't stopped. Any recommendations?
@@CactusAtlas Yeah KITT PEAK and I guess they still have night tours and let you see through one of the 20 telescopes. 8,000 ft. I live 16 miles east off of Ajo Way.
They still may have shuttle vans ; where do you call home?
I agree. I have a similar love/hate appreciation for mines. I don’t like them but don’t know what else can be done. I think there’s a lot in life, our society, and our planet that just have a lot of that gray area of good/bad and what the heck do you do.
100%. Our needs for the resources in our ground have changed as populations increase and technology advances. The game plan likely has to keep changing. 😑 It's hard to know what the answer is.
Really enjoyed your video, well done ! So i wont miss any I subscribed to your channel and you have enough back logged to keep me busy for a some time !
Awesome, thank you for subbing and welcome! 😄
That IS a hard rock mine. Pretty much any mining like that is considered a hard rock mining operation. I think what you meant was an underground mine. Copper is too spread out for underground usually, much more efficient to do an open pit because you are pulling a smaller percentage of ore out with more waste mixed in. Very rarely is it in high concentration veins like gold where you can follow them underground and get most of it out. The mine I work at moves almost 2,000,000 tons of material to get 3,087 tons of copper(refined) every year. Actually I don't know where those numbers came from, they were online but I know for a fact we move more than that lol. Our average per shift is over 80k tons, that's 160 per day and we run 365, no breaks. Over 58 million tons of material moved. I'm not sure what our copper production is for sure.
Holy moly. That's... that's a lot of earth being moved. 😲
Here is a thought. Push the tailings back in the hole. Or since the land is trashed anyway, bury trash and cover with tailings. Eventually it might create compost??? Of course the cost factor is the prohibitor, I would add that it would still be better than dumping trash in our oceans.
Long time tucson resident and avid hunter and off reader. I've been away several decades now, snd I'm not a lawyer, but I recall state trust land is not private but often leased. ranchers, etc. the land must be accessible and usable to the public, following hunting regs, etc. very similar to BLM, but is not leased.
Got the same impression. Just haven't encountered one surrounded by a national park quite like that. 😅
In my experience, I've never had any trouble with authorities on AZ State Trust Land. Never even been asked for my permit. I just Mountain Bike though.
Me neither really. My concern is not so much running into anyone in the field, but when it comes to drone rules, since I have a commercial license, I need to be careful where I fly as there are those who delight in busting people on TH-cam.
I fly a drone as a hobby and use an app called Air Aware which helps me know where I can fly. It doesn’t include city ordinances so it’s not perfect but it is a good starting point for me to know if I might be able to fly. I looked at the area I think that you were in for the trust land and it looks like based on the app, that the national park designation supersedes the trust and you can’t fly there. You might want to still check with the park though because it is confusing for sure.
Often we've found that those in the park aren't 100% sure themselves apart from national park = NO. 😅
If it can't be grown, it's gotta be mined.
Everything.....EVERYTHING comes from mining and farming, period! So if anyone wants to complain about an open pit mine or whatever, just tell them to give up their car, phone, food and the clothes on their back...
That's pretty much been our attitudes as well. Dunno about others, but I'm rather fond of this little pocket computer we mostly all carry. 😅
If man went and mined space for the infinite supply of what we have to work so hard for here on earth, all the value of those resources on earth would lose their value, they'd be deemed worthless due to the infinite supply which would crash and collapse the trade and stock markets, companies and moguls would go broke over night and we all know they'll never let that happen
Very true. There's likely no truly good solution in the immediate future, nor one without consequences. 🙁
Ajo an amazing name, with various "meanings". The way I understood what it meant was by an old Mexican. Seems before mining and all that there, there was a house of I'll repute. So when the Spanish or Mexican needed a day of R/R, they'd go there and looking for an a ho 🤔 😂. Then it turned into a big ho in the ground.😊 It is a shame with how the earth was treated there and other places around the world. Now they make you fill them back up. Before anything starts you have to get a permit. Fly over and take pictures. Carefully remove all fauna, GPS where it came from, place in a "greenhouse " in the area, and replant after you fill back in. In the exact spot. It isn't cheap anymore to mine. So when people start complaining about a new mine going in, and how they're going to rape the earth and make gobs and gobs of money, I know they haven't done there research. This is why the Bible says we've become a covetous nation. We go there and rape their land. Anyway...peace.
😅 As a big garlic fan I'm rather keen on the theory that it had to do with wild garlic in the area.
Technogaianism
Pit mines spawn pit vipers.