Visit Orphan Mine, Grand Canyon, Arizona

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In 1893, Hogan registered the “Orphan Lode” or “Orphan Mine,” located 1,000 feet below Maricopa Point and on 20.64 acres of scenic property less than two miles west of today’s village. Four acres abutted the canyon edge while the remainder plummeted to the copper mine’s shaft in the cliff face below.Hogan constructed two trails to his claim. The Battleship Trail followed the upper 1.4 miles of the Bright Angel Trail before traversing below Maricopa Point another 3.5 miles to the mine site. Another trail consisted of ropes, ladders, and toe holds chiseled into the side of the cliff from the rim directly above the mine site. Few other than Hogan used what he called "The Slide" and others called the Hummingbird Trail. You had to be a hummingbird to hang on!Hogan not only had the mine, he was able to build tourist facilities uncontrolled by the National Park Service.In 1936 he opened the Grand Canyon Trading Post, eventually adding cabins and a saloon. World War II ended his mining and tourism business, and Hogan sold out to Madeleine Jacobs in 1946. Jacobs operated the tourist facilities with little interest in the mine until 1951 when it was discovered that the black rock she had been kicking aside was actually some of the richest uranium in the Southwest. The Orphan Mine became one of the most productive uranium mines in the region, in operation from 1953-1969.An 1,800 foot long cable tram was added in 1955. A large "bucket" carried miners down and back from the rim to the mine opening in the cliff below, and hauled out the excavated ore. Each bucket could hold 800 pounds of ore, with an average of 1,000 tons removed each month.In 1959, to meet higher safety standards and increased production demand, the cable tram was replaced by an elevator and load car operated from a large headframe. A 1,500 foot vertical shaft was drilled straight down from the rim to the mine site. Miners had a long, dark ride into the mine below. Ore production increased to almost 9,000 tons each month. In the late 1950s, the mining company sought permission to extend the operation beyond the mining claim and into federal property. To speed the approval process they proposed an 18 story, 800 room hotel overhanging the rim. This grand hotel would spill “down the side of the precipitous cliff like a concrete waterfall” ending at a swimming pool and sun deck below.Because of the controversy over the extended mining operations and the unprecedented hotel plans, Congress passed a law in 1962 that allowed a compromise. Mining could continue, but tourist operations were prohibited after 1966 and all mining would cease by 1987, when the property would then pass to the federal government. Mining actually stopped by 1969 when the market for uranium declined and shipping costs for the ore increased.When the mine closed it had produced 495,107 tons of ore, including 4,257,571 pounds of uranium oxide, 6,680,000 pounds of copper, 107,000 pounds of silver, and 3,283 pounds of vanadium oxide. The value of the uranium alone has been estimated at $40 million.

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