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December 1942. "Armed guard at a copper smelter of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Company at Morenci, Arizona. This plant is supplying great quantities of the copper so vital in our war effort." Oh, and: Merry Christmas! Photo by Fritz Henle for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Having researched the history of Bisbee, the Southern Arizona mining town where I live, this image comes as no surprise. Up until the late 1950s, companies like Phelps Dodge pretty much ran this territory and did not take kindly to any interlopers or troublemakers. One good example would be the 1917 Bisbee Deportation, where scores of socialist mine workers (unionists) were herded into boxcars at gunpoint, shipped out of town and dumped in the New Mexico desert.
[Bisbee! Cafe Roka! Will you adopt me? - Dave]
I mean it!
I'd be willing to bet there aren't any copper thieves hanging around, either!
I thought it was just another James Arness photo.
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