A black and white postcard of the Denn mining properties. The front caption at the bottom reads: “Denn & Arizona Mine and Mill. Bisbee, Ariz.” The name Clarence E. Wittig has been stamped on the back. The postcard is unused and was published by the Albertype Company, Brooklyn, New York. Clarence E Wittig Collection.

The Denn mining claim was found and named after Maurice Denn, a prospector and hard rock miner. The Denn and Arizona copper company sank the shaft in April 1905 and struck an ore body on December 10th 1906. The Denn Mine suffered a severe accident on January 4th, 1907 when four tons of dynamite exploded leaving a sixty-foot-wide crater and damaging property on the Denn site. The miners working there were fortunate, none died and only five were injured. The Denn was closed November 1907 due to the price of copper dropping. When production began again in 1909 the Denn hit an immense amount of ground water and was again shut in December 1910. Miners returned to Denn in December 1917, in February 1919 they had to deal with a fire that burned out of control for over a week. In 1925, the Denn and Arizona merged with the Shattuck & Arizona becoming the Shattuck and Denn Company. The copper production improved at the Denn shaft; high quality ore was found at the 1700 level soon after the merger. The deepening of the Junction Shaft allowed for the Denn to drain and reach its full potential. The Denn Mine produced ore for the company from 1925 to 1944. The Phelps Dodge corporation bought out Shattuck and Denn in 1947. After seventy years, the Denn Shaft finally shut down in 1975.

1973.47.10