ills.

COPPER-MINING

There is a city hidden away in a narrow canon in the extreme southern
portion of Arizona which is supported solely by a copper-mine.
The canon lies upon the southern slope of a range of mountains,
and from its mouth one can look far off to the south across the
desert plains and mountains of Mexico. The city has an elevation
of more than a mile above the sea, and the canon in which it is
situated is so narrow and steep-walled that you can almost jump
down from one street upon the roofs of the houses along the street
below. Stairways, instead of walks, lead up the hillsides from
the main street in the bottom of the canon.

You might well wonder at the position of the city, and think that
out of all the waste land in this region a better place might have
been selected for its location. But cities grow where people gather,
and people do not come to live in the desert unless there is important
work to be done there.

A party of prospectors who were searching carefully over the mountains
found several mineral veins with green copper stains crossing this
canon and outcropping in the adjacent hills. Claims were staked out
and recorded at the nearest land office. Then shafts and tunnels
were opened, and the miners became confident from the rich character
of the ore that an important copper-mine might be developed.

Supplies were brought across the desert with teams, and cabins
were built in the lonely canon. Then an enterprising man started
a store. As the mine was opened farther, its importance was better
understood. There was a call for more miners and the town grew
larger. The houses clustered about the mine, the centre of all
the activities. At last a railroad was built, and the town became
a city, with narrow, winding streets occupying the winding canon,
while tier upon tier of houses crept up the sides of the canon,
which formerly had been covered only by growths of cactus and other
plants of the desert.

If the mine should close, there would be no inducement to keep
people in the locality, and the city would become merely a group
of deserted buildings. Water is so scarce that only a small amount
is allowed to each family, and it is delivered in barrels instead
of by pipes. Provisions of all kinds are very expensive, for they
have to be brought a long distance.

The great mine supports the thousands of inhabitants. The varied
industries represented there are dependent upon it alone. As