{"id":1140875,"date":"2019-09-27T14:55:51","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T19:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1003094"},"modified":"2019-09-27T14:55:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T19:55:51","slug":"retired-phelps-dodge-miner-still-reigns-at-the-queen-of-copper-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1140875","title":{"rendered":"Retired Phelps Dodge miner still reigns at the Queen of copper camps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Bisbee, Arizona, 85 year-old Queen mine tour guide Bennie Scott is in his element. &nbsp;In a southern lilt, Scott, a retired Phelps Dodge copper miner, drives visitors 1,500 feet into the mine and, with the stage presence of a Hollywood actor, recounts mining days passed, remembering in vivid detail the techniques, dangers and drama.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Once known as &#8220;The Queen of the Copper Camps,\u201d Bisbee is nestled among the Mule Mountains of southeast Arizona, which are known for their diverse minerals and wealth of copper. The Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate and former Phelps Dodge headquarters, tells the full story. <\/p>\n<p>Although its mines closed in the 1970s, the town&#8217;s character has been preserved in its architectural and mining landscape, and thousands of Bisbee visitors ride into the Queen Mine Tour each year\u2014heading underground and back in time. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Queen-mine-entrance.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1003097\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Queen-mine-entrance.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Queen-mine-entrance-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Queen-mine-entrance-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption>Queen mine entrance. Image: Amanda Stutt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following a tour, <strong>MINING.com<\/strong> spoke exclusively with veteran Phelps Dodge miner Bennie Scott: <\/p>\n<p><strong>How long did you work at Queen Mine? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott:<\/strong> I<br \/>\nwent to work two days after I graduated from Bisbee high school \u2013 May 27, 1957,<br \/>\nand stayed with the mining company until June 14, 1975 \u2013 that\u2019s when they shut<br \/>\nit all down. <\/p>\n<p><strong>What type of miner were you? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott<\/strong>: I<br \/>\nwound up what they call a crosscut miner, and whenever I wasn\u2019t working in the<br \/>\ncrosscuts underground, they\u2019d have me drive a dump truck and outhaul the<br \/>\nunderground ore to the mill. Also, during my time underground, I worked in the<br \/>\nshafts. I hung shafts, I changed shaft guides, I checked shaft guides, and on<br \/>\ntop of that I drove a few raises when somebody was off.&nbsp; You learn to do it all. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Did you ever have an injury or a close<br \/>\nencounter on the job? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott:<\/strong> This is going sound kind of funny \u2013 no. And I\u2019ll tell you why. My time, when I started, I had a partner who was in the stope, it was a 277 stope, it was a Dallas, and it caved in, and my partner got hit with a rock pretty good. It knocked him out and broke his collarbone. When I started out with other partners, I got real choosy. My partner who got hurt was one of those \u2018I know how to do it all,\u2019 instead of working as a team (emphasis). For the rest of my time underground, even working in the crosscuts, I had partners and I told them, \u2018we do not do something by ourselves, we do it together.\u2019 We pick up that timber together, we pick up those rails together, [if] we have a car to get off \u2014 we work together. I did not believe in being bull-headed and \u2018just go do it.\u2019 My little theory was &#8211; \u2018we need to go home everyday, not go in an ambulance.\u2019 <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Bennie-Scott-pictures.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1003098\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Bennie-Scott-pictures.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Bennie-Scott-pictures-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Bennie-Scott-pictures-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption>Bennie Scott points to a picture of his team at Queen mine in the 60s, to the left is a picture of Scott&#8217;s father&#8217;s team a generation earlier. Image: Amanda Stutt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Why do you still do tours at the Queen<br \/>\nmine?&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott: <\/strong>Because<br \/>\nI love it. <strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>When the mine was<br \/>\ngetting ready to shut down, I went to the company and told them I\u2019d work<br \/>\nstraight night shifts. \u2018I told them, I\u2019ll do anything you want, if you let me<br \/>\ngo to college.\u2019 So I went to college [during the days], and studied law. I\u2019d go<br \/>\nto work at four in the afternoon and work until midnight, and I was back at<br \/>\nCochise College at nine in the morning. <\/p>\n<p>When the mines actually shut down in 1975, I went to Tucson and went through the Tucson police academy, came back to Bisbee, and I was the town\u2019s only detective for 27 years. I got shot twice \u2013 I travelled in and out of Mexico with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). When it come time for me to retire, I got on the (Bisbee) city council. I spent eight years on the city council. When I stepped off the stand, the city manager said \u2018Bennie, would you like to go back and work in the mine?\u2019 And I jumped at it. I was raised on the mines, my family was raised on the mines, and to me, it\u2019s enjoyable to be able to tell people the real stories. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190908_1542316.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1003100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190908_1542316.jpg 574w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_20190908_1542316-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 574px) 100vw, 574px\" \/><figcaption>Copper mineralization within Queen mine. Image: Amanda Stutt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>What<br \/>\ndo you miss most about being a miner? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott:<br \/>\n<\/strong>The money. I [once] went to Tucson and paid cash<br \/>\nfor a new Chevrolet 409 convertible. I paid $2,900 for it. My ex-wife got that<br \/>\ncar. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Can<br \/>\nyou tell us about the day the mine shut down? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott:<br \/>\n<\/strong>When the last cage come up off the 2,800 level, I<br \/>\nwas instructed by Marvin Immis, he was the mine foreman, he said, \u2018Bennie when<br \/>\nthey pull you out, I want you, just before that cage gets ready to leave, walk<br \/>\nover there, flip that switch and that turns the pumps off, and I stepped on the<br \/>\ncage and that rang the bells we went to the surface. We flooded [the mine] all<br \/>\nthe way to the 700-level. That was June 14, 1975. <\/p>\n<p><strong>What<br \/>\nare some of the most memorable experiences? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Scott: <\/strong>You had a lot of camaraderie. We did not have discrimination between Hispanic and white people. We went to work together, we went home together. If the Hispanic people were going to have a birthday, we call it a quincea\u00f1era, so if we got invited to a party, we ate enchiladas and tamales and tostados, and drank coors beer. At my parties, they had hamburgers, hotdogs and budweiser beer. But the thing that made it all the same was we all drank out of the same tequila bottle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bennie Scott recounts mining days passed, remembering in vivid detail the techniques, dangers and drama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2648,624,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140875"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1140875"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1140925,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140875\/revisions\/1140925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1140875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1140875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1140875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}