Copper Miners circa 1939
Copper Miners was created from a 1930’s black and white photo of brothers Santiago Vasquez, Rosemary’s grandfather, and Juan Vasquez as they are taking a lunch break at the Phelps Dodge Copper Mine in Jerome, Arizona.
Copper Miners was created from a 1930’s black and white photo of brothers Santiago Vasquez, Rosemary’s grandfather, and Juan Vasquez as they are taking a lunch break at the Phelps Dodge Copper Mine in Jerome, Arizona.
Copper Miners was created from a 1930’s black and white photo of brothers Santiago Vasquez, Rosemary’s grandfather, and Juan Vasquez as they are taking a lunch break at the Phelps Dodge Copper Mine in Jerome, Arizona.
The city of Jerome was founded in 1876 in the Arizona Territory. In the 1920’s the population peaked due to the copper mines and the copper demand. At its height, Jerome mines produced 3 million pounds of copper per month. The Depression of the 1930’s slowed mining operations up until World War II which increased copper demand and then following the war, demand slowed to the point of the Phelps Dodge Copper Mine greatly reduced operations in 1953. On March 19, 2007, the mine operations were acquired by Freeport-McMoRan and now operates under the name Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.