Learning about Bisbee’s heritage and statehood
As the centennial of Arizona statehood approaches (Feb. 14, 2012), it’s time to take a look at one of the communities that played a major role in that achievement.
Not only did Bisbee produce much of that copper that drove the state’s economy in the early decades, it also was home to many of the fabulous mineral specimens that garnered both national and international interest in all things Arizona.
Harry Wheeler, the last captain of the Arizona Rangers.
And its location near the border with Mexico made it one of three bases for the Arizona Rangers (the other two were close by, in Naco and Douglas), which in the first decade of the 20th century brought law and order to the territory, which Washington dictated as a sine qua non for statehood.
(You’ll read much more about minerals and the Rangers in the future.)
Bisbee’s story is rich and diverse, and I’m proud to tell a piece of it in “A Brief History of Bisbee,” now available as an audio download.