A colorized postcard of the Junction Mine. The front caption on the bottom left reads: “354. The Junction Mine, (Calumet & Arizona.) Bisbee, Arizona.” The back caption on the top left reads: “The Junction Shaft is about 1800 feet deep and is concreted from surface to the 1800-foot station, being one of the finest shafts in the Southwest. This is the principal delivery shaft for the C.&A. properties. The postcard is unused and was published by Curt Teich American Art Colored Chicago Illinois and Harry Herz, Phoenix, Arizona.

The Junction Shaft sunk on July 15th, 1903 by the Junction Development Company. At the end of month, they hit ground water which was difficult to remove with their steam-based pumps. The expansion stopped at the 1,006 level and began developing the upper levels. In 1905, the Junction Development Company became the Junction Mining Company before merging in 1906 with the Superior and Pittsburg Copper Company. Superior and Pittsburg pumped enough water to produce a decent amount of copper to settle its debts. They sought a merger with Calumet & Arizona which was initially rejected. After negotiations, the two copper companies officially consolidated on April 25th 1911. The Junction Shaft served Calumet and Arizona as its main hoisting shaft. Almost all of the ore from the Briggs and Hoatson mines was hauled by motor trains on the 1400-foot level to the Junction shaft and hoisted to the surface. The shaft was 200 feet deeper than any shaft in the district it sank to the depth of 1837 feet. Lined with concrete, it was built with five compartments. The Junction mine was responsible for draining both the Calumet Arizona and the Copper Queen mining operations at its peak pumping 1,500,000,000 gallons of water a year. Two pump stations operated at the 1,000-foot level and the 1,800-foot level. The water pumped from the mines was used in irrigation around Naco. The Denn mine couldn’t be fully productive until the Junction drained its ground water. The Junction shaft had replaced its timbers with concrete to eliminate the threat of extreme fires. In 1924, the steam pumps were replaced with modern pumps and in a single year removed over a billion gallons of water from the mine. Calumet and Arizona merged with Copper Queen in 1931 to survive during the Great Depression. The Junction mine ended production in 1958 and since then it has suffered off and on by floods of acidic mine water. A small section of the shaft is reserved for safety training.

2021.7.8