Galena AZ is on the Copper City Territory Tour at Big Jeep Tours - Bisbee AZ
GALENA AZ
Galena AZ and the Galena Mine Shaft started in 1936 and reached 1,407 FT deep. It never produced any valuable ore but served as a vent shaft for the Campbell Mine which had fires that burned for years. Galena is another name for "Lead".
The headframes from the Cole Shaft and Galena Shaft were switched once the Galena Shaft was closed.
50 homes were built in Galena AZ in 1948 to support the workers at nearby Dallas Mine in South Bisbee AZ.
Some homes were moved to Galena AZ from Jiggerville AZ and Upper Lowell AZ in 1951 to make room for the open pit copper mine, the Lavender Pit.
Galena AZ homes were tiny, under 1000 square feet, but solidly built. Some of the houses had five-foot-deep foundations to accommodate for the hillside placement. The water pipes in each house were placed in the attics in case the mining companies needed to move them to dig up the area.
The hills on the north side of Galena are covered with mine tailings from the Dallas Mine Shaft and the Cole Mine Shaft in nearby South Bisbee AZ. Your tour guide spent many childhood hours trying to hit slag rocks over the tailing with numerous baseball bats he destroyed.
The Campbell Mine Shaft is in Galena AZ and is the deepest shaft in the greater Bisbee mining area at 3334 feet deep.
There was once a long, orange, brown, and yellow mud puddle next to the Campbell Shaft that was only a couple of inches deep and never dried. Your tour guide as a kid would sprint and baseball slide across the whole puddle, encasing himself in the toxic slime.
