02/18/2009
I'm often surprised Arizona doesn't just fall into one huge sinkhole with all the abandoned mines around the state, but lucky for us that also means lots of ghost towns..
Sasco - short for Southern Arizona Smelting Company - grew up to support the smelting plant that serviced the surrounding copper mines..
Like many mining towns it had a busy but brief life span. It started in 1907 and closed in 1910 due to lack of profit..
Today all that is left are some huge concrete foundations from the smelting plant, the base of the smelting stack, and the ruins of some of the other buildings including the Rockland Hotel. .
Unfortunately the site is home to paintball wars and every wall is covered in paint and graffiti.
Sasco lies near the Silverbell Mountain just north of Tucson.
It's all dirt road, naturally, and as with most of these old mining sites not much is left and what there is has not been treated well.
My mind boggles at the size of these concrete foundations and the base of the smelting tower.
It makes you wonder what it all looked like in it's prime.
Some really unique saguaros out here
Lots of new arm buds all over these guys
These concrete slabs are about 8 feet tall and were part of the smelting processor
Looking down on the slabs, and there are a lot of them
Well, yes Sharon that's a mountain. Actually I'm standing on what we think was the railroad line.
Looking down on another section of the smelting plant
Walking along the top of the smelting foundation. Lots of holes and openings to fall through
Looks like a maze doesn't it? I have no idea what all this did when it was a working plant
Just a hole and a slot in the foundation
I'm in this for scale. That tower in back is really quite large
Again, I'm in it for scale. You can see my head peeking over the top of one of those concrete formations.
That's what is left of the smelting tower
Too bad there is not some diagram that tells you what each piece was used for.
The ruins of the Rockland Hotel
The Rockland was where out-of-town visitors stayed in the town's hayday
Lots of paintball damage and vandalism