Visit Clifton, Arizona

Renovation Ramblings – Things to Come

Business Association of Chase Creek AZ — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:24:46 +0000

~Claw Hammer

As I was walking peacefully in the warm winter sun,
I came across a sign that talked about things to come.

This sign it hung on Chase Creek in a building barely used.
It was bright, bold and intriguing, so I stopped a while to muse.

This sign it had copper colors and I could plainly see
It signaled Art a coming in November 2 and 3.

It also spoke of wine, the finest in the land,
to be here offered also, a tasting, oh, so grand.

So open the door did I, to see what inside be.
At first it was just shock and awe, but then it came to me.

A little paint and hammer work, some vision and some time,
The Galleria Coronado will surely rise and shine.

So now the work it has begun, and bright and shiny it will be,
Plan now to come and gaze, at Clifton Art and Gallery.

Renovation Ramblings – Afternoon Heat

Business Association of Chase Creek AZ — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 01:07:13 +0000

~Claw Hammer

You know how it is in the afternoon heat,
When all of your gumption has just hit delete.
So I sat in the shade of the building awning
And I pondered my project, it’s fate appalling.

When along came a man in a grey Chevrolet
And he was bemoaning the state and the way,
How things were bad and just getting worse
That no longer could be saved – in general were cursed.

But I said to the man in the grey Chevrolet
This was not how I felt, even on such a hot day.
With a few nails and hammer I can make something real
Fore not even a hot day can your heart and soul steal.

Better Not Blink – Review in Tucson Weekly

Raven's Eye Design — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:17:09 +0000

This article was originally published in the Tucson Weekly.

A mural and historic district make Clifton worth the drive — and your attention

by Mari Herreras

A friend warned me as I took off for the eastern Arizona mining town of Clifton that I’d better not blink, or I’d miss it.

But isn’t that the point of road trips—to take you to places you think time forgot to be reminded that interesting people live in those far corners, and that what we really need to do is to visit more often?

That was the lesson learned from my trip to Clifton, a three-hour drive east on Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 191. I started out with one goal: to meet an African-American dentist with the federal prison in Safford who unknowingly became the caretaker of an important slice of Arizona’s Chicano history.

While the road trip started out as a way to connect with history through Clifton’s noted mural and its 1916 union hall, it ended up being a chance to meet a group of newcomers to Clifton who’ve bought and remodeled historic structures in the business district.

Dentist Jeff Gaskin bought the former Morenci Miners Local 616 Union Hall about 10 years ago. In the main room is a mural by Tucson artist David Tineo that’s at least 25 feet wide and almost 10 feet tall. When a real estate agent took him to the building, Gaskin said, it was obvious the hall was in need of care.

“Parts of the ceiling were coming down, and there was water damage,” Gaskin recalled during my visit. “I didn’t know anything about the mural or the history, but I felt that I better buy this building in order to save it.”

The mural is one of about 100 that remain out of the more than 200 murals Tineo created during his 40-plus-year career. It depicts the 1983-1986 United Steelworkers strike in Clifton and neighboring Morenci.

The union hall was the center of the strike, which still sparks anger from many Arizona Chicanos and union organizers. In 1983, then-Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt sent in the National Guard to break up the strike against Phelps Dodge, sending tanks and helicopters into Morenci to help strikebreakers continue copper mining production. That move earned Babbitt the nickname Bruce “Scabbitt.”

I had a chance to spend the night in the old hall, which Gaskin has turned into his residence and a boarding house. When I arrived, Gaskin introduced me to a roomful of people sitting at tables with plates of food and glasses of champagne and wine. I learned that this scenario in the hall’s large meeting room, with Tineo’s mural looming, wasn’t unusual. Someone joked with me later that Gaskin is the unofficial mayor of Chase Creek Street, where the old union hall sits with other historic buildings.

Gaskin told me he believes it’s important to bring people together, so he hosts regular potlucks that welcome both newcomers and longtime residents who care about the town’s history and future.

“I enjoy good company and conversation,” Gaskin said. “It’s wonderful when we get together and everyone brings a dish to share. You have a good story to share, and you like to laugh, you are welcome here.”

I was introduced to Frank Gonzales (the father of Tucson artist Pancho Gonzales), who retired from Phelps Dodge. Gonzales went over the town’s early mining history, which began in the late 1870s. He brought up the racism and the other struggles Mexican Americans experienced over the years with the mining companies, and eventually brought up the strike.

Gonzales looked up at the mural and recalled how difficult that time was. Because he was a supervisor, he crossed the picket line every day and continued to work.

“Even to this day, when you go to weddings, there are people who will sit on one side (who were) involved in the strike, and people on the other side who crossed the picket line,” Gonzales said. “It tore the community apart.”

John Lunt, another Phelps Dodge retiree, spends his free time taking photos of the area’s bighorn sheep, fall colors along the San Francisco River, spring wildflowers, and mountain views along the Coronado Trail. Hunting, he said, is popular with many area residents, who go after deer, elk, bear and antelope. “Even bighorn sheep?” I asked.

“Yes, but I’d never shoot those. It would be like killing your dog,” Lunt said, pointing out a photo he took of bighorns lying beneath a tree in a residential area of Morenci. It was published in a recent issue of Arizona Highways.

Lunt’s wife runs the Greenlee County Historical Society museum just down the street. The museum covers the history of this part of Arizona, and even includes the childhood high chair of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was born in the area.

When the potluck ended, I got a tour of the Chase Creek Street historic district from Ray and Jeanette West. Like Gaskin, the Wests bought several buildings to turn into residences and use for their businesses. Jeanette sold their bed-and-breakfast in Flagstaff as Ray got close to retiring from the city of Tempe. He said his dream was to move to an old Western town in Arizona, and they fell in love with Clifton, especially the area along Chase Creek.

On one side of the street sits a building with their apartment and a vintage dress shop Jeanette runs. Across the street is an antique shop filled with Ray’s collection of furniture, old tools and housewares. “It’s everything we’ve collected over the years,” Ray says.

We stop at the Clifton Armory, a gun shop owned by another newcomer and building renovator, Dave Riley. Riley owns a print shop in Mesa and, like Ray, he was interested in finding the next Bisbee—a Western town with history and potential. Riley and his wife bought several buildings and opened the gun shop, selling firearms from Riley’s collection as well as new guns, ammunition and hunting licenses. Next door and above the shop is a bed-and-breakfast the couple is still decorating.

Riley pointed out a photo recently discovered in the town museum of the notorious Arizona Rangers. It was taken in Clifton in the late 1800s. Riley said he felt particularly lucky when he discovered the name of each ranger on the back of the photo.

Farther down the street is the Chase Creek Marketplace, where Susan Snyder sells works by local artists, salsa, handmade soaps and lotions, and locally made handicrafts. When we walked in, Snyder was busy with customers, but I noticed a series of Tineo’s paintings for sale. Snyder says he comes to town often.

With interest in the area growing, neighbors have formed the Chase Creek Historic Association and started a website, visitcliftonaz.com, that highlights businesses and gives potential visitors a sense of Clifton’s history as well as what to do there.

Back at the union hall, Gaskin took me out for another tour, driving his truck down to the San Francisco River, an idyllic setting where locals camp during the summer. Next, we headed to Morenci, to the copper mine where the first Morenci mining camp once stood. It’s now just a memory.

That evening, I finally got a complete tour of the union hall, which is decorated with Gaskin’s large collection of African art and paintings he’s collected by an African-American artist from Cleveland. There’s some Mayan art, and more paintings by Tineo scattered around—two are Day of the Dead dentists treating their patients. Over strawberry Häagen-Dazs and shortbread cookies, Gaskin shared how important it was for him to connect with Tineo and learn more about the mural.

Tineo, speaking from his Tucson studio, said he’s always looked at Gaskin as a “guardian angel of history.”

“It fell in the right hands, and because Jeff is so inviting, the doors are always open for people to visit and really enjoy. It’s a constant open house for the community,” Tineo said.

Gaskin said he meets people looking for the union hall almost every week. Sometimes they ask about the mural, and he always invites them in. “It’s still important for a lot of people, and I never want people to feel that they aren’t welcome.”

Tineo said that, to him, the mural represents the resilience of the people who lived through the era. Because the strike was so divisive, some families remain divided, and strong emotions are still unresolved. “Maybe that’s why they keep coming back,” he said.

The next morning, the light coming through the window behind the union hall stage cast an interesting glow on the mural. It was quiet, but as I sat there looking at the mural’s images of National Guard soldiers, picketers, Cesar Chavez and iconic steelworkers, all surrounded by Gaskin’s collection of African and Mayan art, it made sense and felt right. I was thinking, “I want to come back.”

After breakfast at PJ’s Restaurant, Gaskin takes me back to Morenci, to the same spot where John Lunt took his photo of the bighorn sheep. There are no sheep today, but there is still much to see. Gaskin stops to show me how early mining families buried their dead by blasting gravesites into the rocky hillsides.

Driving out of Clifton, we stop at Three Way, a pit-stop store off U.S. Highway 191, to grab a Coke for a drive to Duncan, an agricultural community about 30 miles away where Gaskin’s friend Deborah Mendelsohn owns the Simpson Hotel Bed and Breakfast.

Before ending the day with tacos at Los Mendoza in Clifton, there are final visits with Frank Gonzales and his wife, Lydia. Frank places in my hand a small scorpion figure he’s made from copper wire.

We return to the old union hall, where I give Gaskin a goodbye hug, before I drive through desert and hills back home to Tucson.

Renovation Ramblings – Roof Repair

Business Association of Chase Creek AZ — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:10:41 +0000

— By Claw Hammer

I started on a roof repair
A couple of days ago,
In the cute little town of Clifton
On the banks of the San Francisco.

I new it would not be easy
A challenge it would be,
For roofing is not my strong suite
I’m not an ace, more like a two or three.

So up upon the roof I go
with tools galore in tow,
But once I get upon the heights
I can’t believe the show.

The mountains they are beautiful
With colors of all degree,
North and south, east and west
They tower with serenity.

The clouds they are a floating
Across a field of blue,
And what happened to the roofing job
I do not have a clue.

So here me now I tell you
In Arizona, it is Clifton you should see,
The sights they are beyond belief
It is the place to be.

Renovation Ramblings – Treasure

Business Association of Chase Creek AZ — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:37:55 +0000

— By Claw Hammer

I came to see you Clifton
Because I heard you shine,
But someone else told me
That you were lost in time.

So I came myself to see
The treasure that you hold,
I came to see the copper,
I came to see the gold.

So know I am here to see myself
If shine or time is true,
And what I found is simple,
It all depends on you.

Greenlee County: Copper, history, scenery

Business Association of Chase Creek AZ — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:17:38 +0000

Originally published by The Arizona Republic

by Roger Naylor – Dec. 29, 2011 11:53 AM, Special for The Republic

Original Story Here

Greenlee is a scenic sliver of a county, peeled away from neighboring Graham and tucked up against New Mexico.

Greenlee stretches from the broad, fertile Gila River Valley in the south, where virtually every level acre is under cultivation, to the narrow canyon that frames Clifton, over to the sprawling open-pit diggings of Morenci, then up, up, up to the subalpine meadows and peaks of the White Mountains in the north. All that’s missing is anything urban.

Greenlee County’s remoteness instills it with a pace of its own. This is a far-flung landscape populated by small towns and wisps of communities. The main road through the county, U.S. 191, is a twisted corkscrew that’s considered the nation’s least traveled federal highway. Greenlee is not meant to be hurried through.

If you’re looking for crowds and a bustling nightlife, steer clear. But if you’re seeking vast swaths of wrenching scenery and an aching stillness, interrupted only by small-town hospitality, Greenlee will be a most comfortable fit.

What to see and do

Most of U.S. 191, also known as the Coronado Trail Scenic Byway, slithers south to north through Greenlee County like a writhing python of pavement. With more than 450 sharp curves, switchbacks and hairpin turns along its 123-mile length, 6,000 feet of elevation change and endless views, this is a road that motorcyclists dream about and RVers have nightmares over.

The route is named for Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the 16th-century Spanish explorer who traversed this wilderness of peaks and canyons in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola. With sparse traffic, no gas stations and non-existent cellphone reception, this is not your typical Sunday drive. Be prepared. Snow is not plowed on weekends or at night. Call the Arizona Department of Traffic at 511 to check conditions.

Arizona has been a booming copper producer, with legendary mines from Jerome to Bisbee. But the undisputed champ is in Morenci, where the Freeport-McMoRan complex includes one of the world’s ‘ largest copper mines. Tours are not offered at this time, although they may start up again in the spring. The best views of the mine are from overlooks on U.S. 191.

Housed in a 1913 brick building that once served as City Hall, the Greenlee County Historical Society Museum hasexhibits detailing the mining and ranching history of the area, paintings by artists Ted DeGrazia and Hal Empie, both of whom hailed from the area, and the high chair of another local made good, Sandra Day O’Connor. Free. Open 2-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays or by appointment.

Details: 299 Chase Creek St., Clifton. 928-865-3115 or 928-865-2056.

Alcatraz was “the Rock,” but that nickname could also be applied to the little hoosegow in Clifton. In 1878, the Cliff Jail was gouged out of solid stone. Enough room for two cells was hacked and blasted out of a cliff face by stone worker Margarito Varela. Legend has it that when the job was finished, Varela went on a well-earned bender, shot up the saloon and, yes, became the first guest of his own prison.

Details: Near the Chamber of Commerce, 66 Coronado Blvd., Clifton. 928-965-8124

Like many small-town cores, the historic district of Clifton has taken a beating over the years. But it’s springing to life again. Grant money has been channeled into repairing and restoring the territorial buildings along a three- to four-block stretch of Chase Creek Street. Several new businesses soon will be joining the handful of galleries, gift shops and antiques stores already open. Grab a walking-tour brochure at the museum or at Chase Creek Marketplace, 215 Chase Creek St.

Wildlife watchers don’t have to travel far afield. A herd of desert bighorn sheep resides in the hills near Clifton. The sheep can be seen almost daily on the roadside between Clifton and Morenci, on the banks of Chase Creek and even on lawns in town. Birders will spot plenty of feathered favorites in the east end of the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area and along the Gila River near Duncan, a stretch favored by sandhill cranes. For a map of birding locations, stop at Country Chic, which also serves as the Duncan Tourist Information Center.

Details: Gila Box, 928-348-4400, www.blm.gov/az/sfo. Country Chic, 205 SW Old West Highway, 928-359-1955.

Where to eat

Only open since July, 3 Sisters Bakery in Duncan has been a smashing success. More than a restaurant, it’s where the community gathers. Folks stop by in the morning for meltingly sweet fresh doughnuts (50 cents each; $5 for a dozen) and warm cinnamon rolls (75 cents).

Lunchtime brings a rush for from-scratch soups and heavenly pocket pies with fruit or meat fillings ($1.50). Hot dogs are baked in homemade buns with a special sauce. The sisters range in age from the 60s to 80s. No wonder everyone in town hangs out here. Who wouldn’t want to be fussed over in the cozy confines of a warm bakery by a trio of grandmothers in matching floral aprons?

Details: 113 SE Old West Highway, Duncan. 928-359-2253.

The Salsa Trail dips into Greenlee County, and one of the popular stops is Gi’Mee’s in York. Ed Scott built his small eatery nearly a quarter century ago and has earned a following for his homemade grub and hearty portions. Combo plates, such as the two-cheese enchilada, one taco, one chile relleno plus beans and rice ($9.85), aren’t for those with timid appetites. Or try a burger (half-pounder, $6.95; quarter-pounder, $4.95) and run it through the intriguing 30-item topping bar to design your own towering creation.

Details: 360 Frontage Road, York. 928-687-1517. More on Salsa Trail eateries: www.salsatrail.com.

Where to stay

It’s one thing simply to save a grand old building; it’s another thing entirely to recapture the past glory of a place and an era. Deborah Mendelsohn’s thorough but graceful restoration of the Simpson Hotel in Duncan pulls off that nifty trick, retaining historical charm while creating a comfortable getaway.

Although it feels as though you’re stepping back in time upon entering, the vintage hotel is now an eco-friendly bed-and-breakfast, with Mendelsohn graciously catering to her guests. The Simpson offers five beautifully decorated rooms filled with antiques. Rates start at $80 per night and include a gourmet breakfast.

Details: 116 Main St., Duncan. 928-359-3590, www.simpsonhotel.com.

One of the amazements of last summer’s devastating Wallow Fire is not what it took but what it spared. That high-mountain jewel, the Hannagan Meadow Lodge, went unscathed. In fact, no evidence of fire damage can be seen from the lodge or its cabins. So if you’re looking for a winter playground, beautiful Hannagan Meadow awaits.

At an elevation of 9,100 feet, the historic lodge receives a healthy blanket of snow. Families can enjoy sledding, cross-country skiing and old-fashioned snowball fights before thawing out in front of a crackling fire. During the winter, the restaurant normally serves guests only. But the non-guest who calls ahead and makes a reservation may be squeezed in. Rooms cost $85-$125 per night; cabins, $150-$200.

Details: About 22 miles south of Alpine on U.S. 191. 928-339-4370, www.hannaganmeadow.com.

Holy Cow!

Business Association of Chase Creek AZ — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:30:02 +0000

You haven’t seen Clifton, AZ —

Yet…

Where else can you:

Go to jail for fun?
Check out the scene on Chase Creek Street?
Help herd bighorn sheep off the road?
And pan for gold on the San Francisco River?
Do all this during the first 4 hours of your visit?