long
as it pays to mine the copper, the people are as contented as if
they were not tucked away in a canon in a remote corner of the
world.

The most interesting things to be seen about the city are the mine
and the smelter. In the former the ore is obtained; in the latter
the ore goes through various processes until it comes out in the
form of shining, metallic copper. The copper ore, we must understand,
is not metallic or "native copper," as it is called when found pure,
but a combination of copper with other substances which change
its appearance entirely.

[Illustration: FIG. 105.--COPPER SMELTER AND CITY OF BISBEE, ARIZONA

The pipe leading up the hill carries away sulphur fumes from the
smelter]

The mine is opened by a shaft, that is, a square hole sunk in the
ground. The shaft of this mine is a thousand feet deep, and is
being continually extended downward. If we wish to go down into
the mine, we must put on some old clothes and get the foreman to
act as guide. The cage in which we are to descend stands at the
mouth of the shaft, suspended by a steel rope. It looks much like
the elevators found in city buildings. At different levels horizontal
passages, called drifts, extend to the right and left upon the
vein of copper ore. We step out of the car at one of these levels
and with lighted candles start to walk through a portion of the
mine. There are so many miles of tunnels that it would take us
days to go through them all.

Overhead, under our feet, and upon the sides of the drift, lies the
vein of copper are, presenting a different appearance at different
places. The various ores sparkle in the light and we gather specimens
of each. The common are is chalcopyrite, a copper sulphide; that
is, it is composed of copper and sulphur. It has a brass-yellow
color, but is often stained with beautiful iridescent tints. In
places the chalcopyrite has been changed to the delicate green
carbonate of copper called malachite. In other places it has given
place to the oxide of copper. The little crimson crystals of this
mineral give bright metallic reflections.

The deposit of copper ore is apparently inexhaustible, for in places
the vein widens so that chambers one hundred feet wide and several
hundred feet long and high have been made in taking it out.

In going through the mine we have to be very careful not to step
into openings in the floor of the passages, or drop rock fragments
into them, for far below mine