ROSEMONT
When
you turn west off of AZ 83 onto Forest Road 231, it is hard to believe that 100
years ago more than 200 people lived along the wooded ridges and canyons on the
eastern slopes of the Santa Ritas. Rosemont is a classic example of the “boom and
bust” history of copper mining. Mining claims, located here as early at 1879
and worked sporadically until 1918, show no significant production of
high-grade ore. Old Rosemont was a settlement that was located along Forest
Road 231 between its intersections with FR-4064 and FR-4051 and had a post
office that was open from 1894 to 1910. The only remains are a slagheap and
some rusty equipment at the smelter site.
No relics remain of the popular hotel, store, warehouse and office
pictured on the left. In 1901 the smelter, which also had been used by the
Helvetia mining area, closed for good.
In 1915 the Narragansett Mines were
sold to William Ramsdell and mine production resumed, due to higher prices for
copper during World War I. The new group of miners occupied New Rosemont which
covered an area from McCleary Canyon Wash west about 1300 feet along FR 4051.
Photos from 1918 showed 20 buildings including the mine owner’s house and
outhouse, deputy’s house, a company store, a pool hall, a boarding house-diner
and several miners’ dwellings. A few of the buildings were made of wood. The
others were tents, ramadas, or palm branch sheds. East of camp along the McCleary Canyon Road a son of Juan Lopez,
a nearby rancher, owned and operated a dance hall and saloon. No evidence of
any buildings can be seen in the area today. By 1918 financial troubles and the
low-grade quality of the ore forced the mines to close again. During those 3 ˝ years 34,300 dry tons of
ore grossed $835,860.00, averaging $24.35 a day.
During that time, at least 6 ranches were within 2 ˝ miles around Rosemont Junction. Only Edward Vail’s VR ranch and the Scholefield ranch were legally homesteaded, but the Martinez and Lopez Ranches were well known in the area.
A school existed for children of miners and ranchers from 1899 to 1918, with widely varying census numbers. The largest number of school children were recorded in 1897. Records show that Vail rented a building on his property for the school from 1902-1910.
In 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt established the Santa Rita Forest Reserve.
This was a big change for miners and ranchers because Forest Rangers now controlled grazing, woodcutting, and other land uses. By 1904 the rangers occupied the new headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service built along FR 231. The current remains of the building are shown in the picture above.
In spite of all the inhabitation in
the Rosemont area in the early 1900s, only two manmade structures scar the
valley: the slagheap and a leaching tank. The leaching tank, which was used in
a process of extracting copper from the ore, is in a grassland area on an
east-west ridge in the Wasp Canyon Wash drainage.
For the next fifty years the eastern slopes in the pristine green desert sky island of the Santa Ritas were undisturbed by mining companies. Then beginning in 1970 and continuing until 2007, one mining company after another has tried to resume mining. Attempts are made to exchange land in the Federal Forest Services surrounding their private lands to provide a large enough territory for active mining. Local governmental bodies and various environmental and conservation groups offer strong public opposition to any land exchange for the purpose of mining. A 2004 Open Space Bond Ordinance made it possible to save many properties by providing funds for purchasing private lands within the National Forests. However, Pima County was not able to purchase the Rosemont private property. The Augusta Resource Corporation, a Canadian company purchased the land. At this time (March 2007), environmental groups like Save the Scenic Santa Ritas are actively opposing the land exchange. Dick Kamp, Wick Newspapers Environmental Liaison offers the following possibilities: “Congressional land withdrawal, possible use of federal Land and Water Conservation Funds to purchase lands, Coronado’s NEPA evaluation, and what Pima County might do to purchase land or challenge mining in court.” (1)
John J. and Bette Bosma, March 2007. Photographs by J & B Bosma
Sources cited:
Dick
Kamp in www.gvnews.com/articles/2007/01/31/news
(1)
www.co.pima.az.us/cmo/sdcp/reports/d29/Rosemont%20Ranch.pdf
http://ag.arizona.edu/SRER/history/establishment.html
Save the Scenic Santa Ritas http:/www.scenicsantaritas.org/background.htm
“Rosemont.” Jan.
2006 and Feb. 2006. AZ Archaeological & Historical Society Newsletter.
Arizona State Museum. “Fieldwork Report: Rosemont
area” Arizona State Museum. 1984
Additional
Material: GVHC Library File
63