Rare Mining View Book, Views of the Clifton-Morenci Copper Belt, or Souvenir of the Clifton-Morenci Copper Belt of Arizona, Photo-Gravures

Brooklyn, New York and Morenci, Arizona: Albertype Co, 1901. Good. Rare Mining View Book, Views of the Clifton-Morenci Copper Belt, or Views of the Clifton-Morenci Copper Belt of Arizona, Photo-Gravures, Albertype Co., Brooklyn, New York, S. Wallace Parrott, Morenci, Arizona, circa 1901, 7.25 x 5.25 inches, 16 unnumbered leaves plus title page.

Ribbon-bound booklet, heavily toned pictorial wrappers; wrappers brittle, with a few chips and moderate edge wear; a few fingerprints to first interior page, else interior clean, unmarked; black and white photographs printed on every page. Overall good condition.

A rare and interesting piece of Arizona mining history, this view book contains photogravures of the Clifton-Morenci copper mines, mining camps and company towns. Each of the 16 leaves contains 1-6 photogravure images with printed titles. Views include the towns of Clifton and Morenci, a "Mexican Celebration" in 1901, mule teams, and views around the mining camps. One page is titled "Places of Trouble", showing the Morenci and Clifton jails and a precariously thin suspension bridge in Clifton. Other pages show the two towns' amenities - stores, hospitals, churches, a schoolhouse, and residences of the mine owner and superintendent, James Colcahoun and Paul Nicholas. The final page is dedicated to the local Chinese laborers, with three images titled "The Vegetable Chinaman", "The Pie Chinaman", and "Jim Hammond - Chinaman - Boarding House and Longfellow Tunnel". The workforce of the Clifton-Morenci mining towns consisted of first Mexican laborers, then Chinese, who were brought to the district in 1877 because they were more willing to do dangerous mining work. Clifton was one of the sites of the 1983 Arizona copper mine strike, which resulted in the decertification of 35 locals of 13 different unions and is regarded as a staggering defeat for American unions.

James Colcahoun (1857-1954) was a Scottish-born American mining titan. He moved to America to work for the Scottish-owned Arizona Copper Company (ACC), beginning as an assayer and quickly moving up through the ranks and eventually becoming the general manager of ACC Morenci operations. He pioneered a technique to leach low-grade porphyry copper ores in large quantities, which was so successful that ACC profits increased 1000% from 1893 to 1896, saving the company from serious financial trouble brought about by fluctuations in copper prices.

Two copies in OCLC as of January 2024.