Ruby Struggles
 |
The entrance to the Montana Mine with Montana Peak,
elevation 5,370 feet, in the background. The big earthquake
of 1887 tore giant slabs of rock off the peak, giving it its
current appearance. The mine was honeycombed inside Eggshell
Mountain, which is covered with trees, but there was only
one way in and out.
|
Various owners worked
the Montana Mine for three decades to strike it rich with gold. Along
the way, they faced renegades, Apaches, a big earthquake,
bad roads, no water, flash floods, U.S. government interference,
market gyrations and
unscrupulous land speculators. In the end, none made any
money. Most of what they dug up was lead. There was gold there alright, but it was so
expensive to dig, transport and process that it ate up all the
profits.
By 1900, Montana
Camp and its mine were just about played out in all respects. If
Ruby had depended on gold for its future, it would have been
lost to history over 100 years ago.
At the turn of the 20th century, the market for lead showed
signs of life and so did Montana Camp. It was renamed Ruby, the
name of a store proprietor's wife, when they got a post office
in 1910. Still, times were hard. From 1910 to 1926, Ruby's mine went through
another succession of owners who had no better results than
their predecessors. But the worst was yet to come.
Murder in Ruby
 |
The front of the Ruby Mercantile. A large building, it
was also the Post Office, the gas station and housing for
the owners. In its prime, it had electricity, running
water, acetylene gas heat, screened wrap around porchesand
the town's only telephone.
A commune of hippy squatters in the 1960's tore the place
apart for firewood.
|
Ruby's close proximity to Mexico made it a target
of the border violence that was common at that time. This
led to two double murders. Both times the victims were the
owners of the Ruby Mercantile, the largest and most profitable
general store in the Oro Blanco. Brothers John and
Alexander Fraser were killed in a robbery by two
Mexican bandits on February 27, 1920. They had only owned the
store for 11 days.
Frank and Myrtle Pearson bought the store after the Fraser
murders, figuring it couldn't happen again. On August 26,
1921, it did. In a particularly brutal and vicious crime, the mercantile was robbed by seven banditos.
The Pearsons were gunned down after Myrtle was pistol-whipped
to knock out her gold teeth. This happened in full view
of the Pearson's two daughters and Myrtle's sister. They were
able to flee with minor injuries and report the crime.
The subsequent hunts for the killers
were the stuff of novels. They were massive with posses,
chases, shootouts, escapes, big rewards, dead or alive wanted
posters, army troops, federal agents and the first use of
airplanes in a law enforcement manhunt.
Justice caught up with the two Fraser murderers. One was
killed in a shootout. The other was imprisoned in Mexico for
another murder but was never held accountable for the Fraser
killings.
Of the seven killers involved in the Pearson murders, one was
hanged and another served life in prison in Arizona. The rest
were never caught.
The store was closed for a while but soon reopened under new ownership
just in time for Ruby's turnaround.
Fortune Smiles on Ruby - Finally
"We deal in lead."
Steve
McQueen in The Magnificent Seven
 |
Calling all lawyers. Geowife KidsRN, lovely and gracious as ever, stands at
the foot of the Ruby school sliding board. It stands almost
20 feet high with no protective railing up the steps. The
slide is made of sheet metal with exposed rivets. The side
rails are made of wood. Ouch! Well, this is the wild
west.
|
McQueen's character could have been talking about Ruby.
Its fortunes took a dramatic turn for the better in 1926 when
the Eagle-Picher Company of Joplin, Missouri came to town.
Eagle-Picher didn't come for the gold. Their business was lead
and that's what they were after. They made a major investment in
the Ruby mine and it paid off. From 1926 to 1940, Ruby was a full-fledged boom town.
Ironically, some of their best years were during the Great
Depression. At its peak in the late 1930's, Ruby had 1,200 residents
and covered 400 acres. They had several mercantile stores
that supplied other mines and towns in the region. In
fact, the stores were more profitable than most mines. That
was another way to make money in the Oro Blanco.
Ruby had
much of what you might expect in a small town. They had a
grade 1-8 school with four teachers and 150 students. The only
doctor for miles around was in Ruby along with a small
hospital. There was a
courthouse, a jail, pool hall, saloons, stores, bunkhouses for single
workers and housing for families. Much of it was in tent cities.
Kids played. Babies were born. People died and were buried in
the Ruby Cemetery. Parts of town had names like
"Hollywood" and "Snob Hill." There
were socials, baseball games and farmer's markets. Movies were
shown at the pool hall. Church
services were held in the school by a circuit preacher. Some
of the residents had cars, so Ruby had a gas station in front
of the mercantile.
There
was also a downside. After all, this was a mining camp in the
middle of nowhere. The roads in and out of Ruby were terrible. Running water, indoor plumbing and
electricity were scarce. Outhouses were the
norm.
The noise from the mine and its industrial facilities was deafening and echoed through the
canyon 24 hours a day. In fact, the quietest place in
Ruby was deep inside the mine. It was impossible to keep
anything clean since mine dust like fine talcum powder settled on everything.
Ruby's water supply was always a problem. To solve it, two
dams were built to gather rain and run off, eventually forming
two small lakes. When these proved insufficient, a four
inch pipeline was run from the Santa Cruz River 16 miles away.
The lakes and dams are still there today.
Modern Day Alchemy
 |
The Montana Mine entrance and support structures.
Everything and everybody went into and came out of the mine
here. The shaft eventually reached down 700 feet and
still does. Eagle- Picher's emphasis on lead partially
accomplished what alchemists tried to do for centuries -
turn lead into gold.
|
Then there was the mine itself. At its
peak production from 1934 to 1940, it went straight down 700
feet via a single main shaft. Underground there were nine
main horizontal shafts at different depths. These were as long
as 2,000 feet. Smaller shafts branched off from these as the
miners followed the ore veins. The entire Eggshell Mountain was
honeycombed with mine shafts. This eventually resulted in
ground subsidence and collapse over the entire hill, making it
dangerous to walk on. The Ruby map from the caretaker has it
marked as a hazardous area that should be avoided.
Using
dynamite, hand tools and carbide
headlamps, 300 miners worked
shifts 24x7 for $2.50 to $5.00 a day. The company had a solid
safety record. No mining fatalities were recorded during the
Eagle-Picher era.
Between 1928 and 1940,
the company mined almost 800,000 tons of ore. After processing
on-site and in Texas, it produced 31,000 tons of lead worth
4.5 million dollars. Interestingly, two byproducts of the lead
processing were silver and gold. During those boom years,
Eagle-Picher salvaged 120 tons of silver and 1.5 tons of gold.
That alone almost paid for the mining operation, making the
lead much more profitable. By turning Ruby into a lead
mine, they recovered more precious metal than any other
owner.
Then it was over. In late 1939, the mine finally ran
out of readily recoverable ore. Eagle-Picher didn't mess around trying
to salvage or re-tool the operation. They shut down the mine in May 1940
and Ruby started to empty out. The Post Office hung on for
another year, finally closing on May 31, 1941. Over the course
of the next three years, the company removed
some equipment and tore down many of the buildings, leaving
things much as you see them today. In 1944, Eagle-Picher sold
the claim to a 55 year old miner from Nogales named Hugo
Miller, who was determined to coax some more metal out of the
Montana Mine.
Miller loved mining and had done it all his life.
He never made much money but he worked the Ruby claim until
his health started failing in 1961. Only then did he sell his
mine and get out of the business. Purchased in 1945 for
$5,000, he sold it in 1961 for $75,000. He died in March
1963 at age 74. The sale of Miller's mine ended 84 years of
mining in Ruby and marked the beginning of Ruby's ghost town present.
However, the mining bug wasn't dead just yet.
From Boom Town to Ghost Town - Present Day Ruby
 |
The old courthouse, which also served as office space
and a guest house. A circuit Justice of the Peace from Santa
Cruz County held court here.
Although it may not look like it, it has been partially
reconstructed and stabilized with grant money. The
current caretaker lives in back and works out of here. This
is where you'll pay your fee.
|
The new
owners weren't miners. They were families from Tucson
who purchased Ruby as a private getaway. One of the
first things they did was place Ruby off limits. They fenced
it in, posted it "No Trespassing" and protected it with an armed caretaker who lived there.
It wasn't long
though before the new owners got gold fever and began
to envision bigger and better things. Over the next 20
years, there was a wide variety of ideas and proposals.
Convinced that new technology could get gold that was
previously inaccessible, the new owners incorporated as the
Ruby Mining Company. At various times, they also looked at
turning Ruby into a movie set, private resort, hunting club or RV park. None of them ever happened.
That was certainly good news for the hippy commune that took
over Ruby in the late 60's. History hasn't recorded how a
bunch of hippies occupied Ruby for several years with an armed
caretaker on the premises. It also begs the question of how said
hippies ripped up most of what was left of the town for
firewood while the Forest Service was keeping an eye on them.
By the time the commune was evicted in 1971, the wooden
structures of Ruby had been decimated. The owners began
emphasizing preservation over profit to save what was left of
their town. This time, their ideas bore fruit.
In 1975, Ruby was
listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
in 1993,
the Arizona State Parks Board awarded Ruby a grant to begin
restoration efforts. The emphasis was on secure perimeter
fencing and building stabilization.
Since 2000, Ruby has
worked with both federal and state wildlife services to survey
and protect the ecosystem, with an eye towards declaring Ruby
a wildlife refuge. Those efforts are ongoing.
 |
Here's one of the coolest pictures I've ever taken - the
Bat Cave. This a collapsed portion of Eggshell
Mountain. It is a short (and safe) walk along a dirt
road uphill from the mine entrance. You can clearly see the
honeycomb of shafts and levels of
the Montana Mine. They keep going down into the darkness but
the edge was too unstable to risk a closer look. With
binoculars and proper light, you can see timbers, hopper
cars and railroad track. This is where the Mexican freetail bats swarm from May to September - 150,000 of them.
Make arrangements with the caretaker to view it. He
can also tell you where to find this.
|
In 2007, Ruby
was awarded a grant by the Southwestern Foundation to
stabilize and rebuild the school and the courthouse. That work
continues to the present time.
In 2009, Ruby was granted
non-profit status as a 501c3 organization called the Ruby
Mines Restoration Project. It can now accept grants and
donations from a greatly increased number of sources. One of
the covenants is that there can never be any mining in Ruby
again.
The water quality of the lakes has improved
considerably and they are now open to fishing. They are not
stocked but have been naturally seeded with bluegill, catfish
and bass from flash flooding and run off from surrounding
lakes.
The most famous residents of Ruby these days are the
150,000 Mexican freetail bats that live in the old mine shafts
from May to September. They blacken the sky for 10
minutes when they leave at dusk and return at dawn. Biologists
estimate they eat 1,000 pounds of bugs per night. Ruby now has
visitation arrangements that allow people to see this
spectacle in season.
Ruby was a major contributor to the
history, economy and culture of the Oro Blanco. It is
currently in a state of "arrested decay" while the school and
courthouse are worked on. Its current owners, still the
families in Tucson, are to be commended for their preservation
efforts. The town's story is still being written. Ruby is worth saving.
Exploring Ruby
 |
The sign at the entrance to Ruby.
|
After being off limits for years, Ruby can be visited
again. The photo to the left has all the details. We
weren't sure what we would find when we got there, but the
sign is accurate. We initially raised an eyebrow about a
$12 per person admission fee but it was well worth it.
There is a care taker in residence and he will collect the
fee. It's cash only and exact change is appreciated. All the
money goes to the Ruby Mines Restoration Project so we gave a
little extra. He's also got a map and information about Ruby
and will be happy to answer your questions. After a couple of
hints and cautions, you're on your own to explore Ruby.
We spent half a day there and still didn't see all of it.
Ruby isn't easy to get to and it's not really on the way to
anything. It's 50 miles southeast of Tucson and four miles
from the Mexican border. It sits in the middle of the Coronado
National Forest at an altitude of 4,500 feet. The best way to
get there is to take the Ruby Road south out of Arivaca. The
road is partially paved but becomes a dirt road when it enters
the National Forest. It's rough, stony and prone to flash
flooding, but passable in a passenger car except during the
rainy season. It takes about an hour to drive the 12 miles
from Arivaca to Ruby.
You can drive around in Ruby itself. It makes exploring
much more efficient to drive between areas of interest and
then walk. If you want to fish, you don't need a license
since it is private property.
When you go, remember, this is
the Arizona back country. Make sure you've
got lots of water, sun screen and a hat. A stout walking stick
is also recommended. Watch out for plants and animals that
stick, sting and bite. There are lots of rattlesnakes in the
summer. Flash flooding often occurs after rains.
In Ruby, old mine shafts, uncovered wells, unstable buildings
and ground subsidence can present additional hazards. The
caretaker can give you specifics.
There's no cell phone
coverage here unless you hike to the top of a mountain.
No store. No gas. No water. Be sure to bring everything you
might need. Also be aware that the only facility in Ruby is an
outhouse - just like the good ole days.
Be prepared to see
the Border Patrol. They are everywhere. We chatted with
several of them and found them to be very courteous and
professional. We've got good people on the border.
 |
Welcome to the kinder, gentler Oro Blanco. We were going
to add geocaching to the list but forgot our spray paint.
These signs are all over southern Arizona. The reality is
you'll probably see more Border Patrol than anybody else.
That's the Ruby Road on the left, headed towards the town.
|
Also be
aware that illegal immigrants, smugglers and drug runners are
active in this area. We didn't see any. According to the
Border Patrol, things have really quieted down over the last
year or so. The biggest risk on the winding dirt roads is
someone coming around a curve or over a hill on the wrong side
of the road and/or at high speed. Be wary at these blind spots
and watch ahead for the approach of vehicles or telltale dust
clouds. Also watch these same areas for open range cattle, which
go where ever they want and don't leave dust clouds.
Since
this is a geocaching website, I should say a few words about
geocaches in Ruby. There aren't any. We're going to remedy
that next time we go out. I don't think that putting physical
caches in Ruby is a good idea, so we'll put something nearby.
It's too bad that Geospeak got rid of virtual caches and photo
caches. Ruby is tailor- made for those. Nevertheless, whether
it be a cache, a waymark, a challenge, an earthcache or a
benchmark, Ruby should have something for us explorers to go
after.
In the meantime, you can hunt the dozens of geocaches
on the way to Ruby at places like Rattlesnake Canyon, the
Yellow Jacket Mine and Arivaca Lake. Don't rely on smart phone
apps to navigate or geocache. Our Garmin Dakota 20's, which we
rarely use in Minnesota, got a real workout in Arizona.
If
you're hungry after all this, check out the Outlaw BBQ in
Amado, AZ. Leaving Ruby, return to Arivaca, then head 23 miles
east on the Arivaca Road. It comes out at Exit 48 of I-19 and
the Outlaw is right there. You'll drive right by it on the
left. It's a friendly little hole-in-the-wall that has
some of the best brisket and pulled pork we've ever eaten.
I
hope you'll get out to Ruby sometime and that you like it as
much as we did.
Semper
Fi...Out here...Alpha6
