Smelter Ruins #1 Swansea, AZ
Broken walls, drifts of scattered bricks, and a few massive steel girders are all that remain of the 350 ton smelter at Swansea. The smelter was constructed in 1908, but was too inefficient to be economical given the quality of the ore. The costs of producing copper typically exceeded by 2 or 3 cents per pound the going market rate. Ore was actually shipped out to other communities for processing. The mine closed and re-opened a number of times as copper prices fluctuated - laying off and rehiring workers each time. The mines were sold and re-opened in 1914, remaining in operation until 1937 when the Great Depression forced their final closure. During the World War II era, much of the steel was salvaged from the site, leaving unsupported walls of brick to eventually topple.
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