Largest ghost city?? Well, that is what is claimed on one of the many signs found around Jerome. I gotta tell you, Jerome is crazy proud of their heritage. They have a great little museum run by the Historical Society. At one time the Historical Society owned many of the buildings in town. They have sold all but 8 or so back to residents and business people of the town, and I believe some of the 8 that they continue to own may be rented out.
Jerome is an old copper mining town. It is said that billion (yep, with a "B") of dollars of copper was mined out of the 88 miles of underground mines. Then fire destroyed the underground mines, so, the miners took to open pit mining, accompanied by a whole lot of dynamite. The constant dynamiting eventually shook buildings and businesses apart and some of them slid down the hill. The city jail slid 225 feet down the hill. It is not revealed if there were any prisoners incarcerated at the time of the "slide".
For those that might enjoy some further reading on Jerome, there is a Chamber of Commerce page, of course, there is a Wikipedia page, and a page for the historical society, where they claim they are the “Wickedest Town in The West”.
A view of town from down in the valley below. J for Jerome, of course. The ride to Jerome and back down again is, well, shall we say, STEEP?? Yes, we shall.
Above: This photo does not really tell the story, we need 3D to really let you see how steep this is, the road will do at least two 180 type degree turns (hairpins) between where we are on the lower level and the houses above.
Above, Jerome, a pretty little town sitting on the side of a steep mountain.
Arriving in town, we found a parking spot for Big Butt (it was NOT busy in town the day we arrived, on our next visit we would have been hard pushed to find ANY parking spot, and for sure, nothing the big dude would fit into). We started walking the narrow, windy, steep streets. Town is a collection of artists, places to have a cup of latte and a sandwich, or a beer and a pizza, or - - - yep, lots of choices. And, to my delight, a lot of eclectic shops. This is outside the "House of Joy", which was sadly, closed. I can only imagine the fun stuff the shop owner had inside, if this was outside!
A view of one of the streets in town, up close and personal, note the angles which equal steep inclines! (Note, I was holding the camera pretty level, Jerome is far from level! LOL)
The turns and corners can be a bit tight and narrow up here, witness the mirrors so you can see around the corner, and look closely, there is Big Butt doing his thing!
Next, I'll bring you a few photos of the mining stuff, and a few of the proof of the "slide", and one other "interesting" photo.
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1 comment:
We've been to Jerome once. I didn't remember all the fascinating info about the miles of mining tunnels or the "slide". Thanks for sharing!
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