Jerome, Arizona

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This morning we went to Jerome, a little town about 12 miles from the campground. The geology guidebook had mentioned some sites Frank wanted to check out. We ended up at Jerome State Historical Park. Jerome had a BIG copper mine operation from the 1880’s to the 1950’s. Millions of dollars of copper, gold and silver were mined there. It sure looked like an easier life than the copper miners had in Alaska! In its heyday, 15,000 people lived in Jerome. The city is built on the side of a mountain. The narrow road keeps zigzagging up the mountain and the houses stick out over the precipice. Basically, Jerome turned into a ghost town in the 50’s when the last mine closed. Then the hippies moved in and got the town registered as an historical landmark by the 80’s. Then the artists came. Today it’s a tourist town and an artist colony. Buildings are being restored (those that haven’t fallen down the mountain. The town is built on a earthquake fault!). In the afternoon we found the Cottonwood library to send the blog. Then we returned to the campground to bird. We found out that Dead Horse State Park is one of the premier birding sites in the state.

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Photos

Jerome, Arizona
Buildt on a mountainside, a copper mining ghost town that's coming back to life.

Jerome on the mountainside
There are several tiers. Some of the buildings have fallen down the mountain.