Company Town: Arizona’s Mining Communities During 100 Years of Statehood, was the first exhibit I curated completely on my own in my new job as exhibits and events coordinator in Special Collections at the University of Arizona. The exhibit was located in the Science-Engineering Library, in a much smaller exhibit space than the Special Collections gallery. It was a fun project and one I was very eager to work on. I enjoyed doing the research on mining in Arizona and found that Special Collections has a rich treasure trove of historical information on mining. In the exhibit, I featured information on Ajo, Globe-Miami, San Manuel Superior, Jerome, Bisbee, Clifton-Morenci, and Ray/Sonora, and included original photographs, books and other materials. I learned a lot from this project along the way. Feedback I was given included that I used way too much material and that I should not have used sticky dots on any of the materials. I also didn’t include enough written annotations. The Dean of the College of Mining wasn’t too happy either because I included a section on labor strife in Arizona. She even asked the University administration to intervene on her behalf to pressure me to remove the information on labor issues, but the Vice-Provost and the Dean of the Library defended my right to include “controversial” information in the exhibit. Below, I’ve included an article written by the UA News service, with links to further information, including a video of the exhibit and an article written for the Arizona Daily Star by Ernesto Portillo, Jr.. I also planned one program, a lecture by Dr. Anny Ochoa O’Leary. A news story and the transcript of her talk are linked below.
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January 6, 2012: Exhibit – ‘Company Town: Arizona’s Copper Mining Communities During 100 Years of Statehood |UA News …
“Company Town: Arizona’s Copper Mining Communities During 100 Years of Statehood,” a new exhibit at the UA Science-Engineering Library, shares 100 years of stories, struggles and triumphs from Arizona’s copper mining communities.
The history of mining in Arizona is rich and colorful with silver, gold and copper all having been discovered and mined in the state. The first mining company was established in Ajo in the 1850s; the arrival of the railroad brought a booming industry to Clifton-Morenci, Bisbee and Jerome.
Throughout the 20th century, while mining companies made significant profits, the mining workers’ salary was often not a living wage. Conditions in the mines were dangerous and unhealthy; many miners developed a lung disease now referred to as “miner’s lung.” In this context, labor relations between workers and the mine owners throughout Arizona’s history have been volatile, and at times violent.
“Company Town” features an in-depth selection of photographs, pamphlets, original manuscripts, federal and state reports and personal papers drawn from UA Special Collections. The materials on display detail the history of eight Arizona mining communities – Ajo, Bisbee, Clifton-Morenci, Globe-Miami, Jerome, Ray-Sonora, San Manuel and Superior – and show that these communities were more than just a mine, and the people more than just mining workers.
One community in particular, Clifton-Morenci, was the epicenter of the Arizona copper mine strike of 1983. Anna Ochoa O’Leary, a professor in the UA department of Mexican American and Raza Studies, lived in Clifton during the strike and was the president of the Morenci Miners Women’s Auxiliary in Clifton from 1985 to 1986.
I was very tired yesterday when I got home from work at 5, so I took a nap, thinking I could just sleep for half an hour and wake up in plenty of time to work on my radio show from 5:30 to 7pm. As luck would have it, however, I overslept and woke up at 5:50 rather than 5:30. I thought to myself, oh oh, what am I gonna do? I don’t have a lot of time to prepare this show. I hate having to rush, but the clock was ticking away. I decided, to heck with it, I’m just going to play nothing but songs that last 5 minutes or longer. Where could I find a whole show’s worth of songs that were that long? And then the lightbulb went on! Last week I had played an all-English language dance music show, so this week I decided I would play an all Spanish language dance show and feature nothing but salsa! Those songs are all usually 4 to 6 minutes long and they’re quite danceable too. So lo and behold, that’s exactly what I did. I went through my small collection of salsa and musica tropical and came up with a good handful of tunes, all of which were at least 4 minutes long. I gave folks a heads up on Facebook that I would be having another dance party, but that this time the featured music would be a mix of salsa and Latin jazz, and one friend in particular got very excited and told me she had just put her dancing shoes on and was ready to boogie the night away. I dubbed the title of the show, “Salsa A to Z”. I almost made it all the way through the alphabet, but had to skip one or two artists because I had run out of time. That same friend who was ready to bop the night away later told me she thought it was a perfect show. Wow, sometimes you never know how things are going to turn out. I have to admit that initially I wasn’t all that excited about doing an all salsa show, as I was bummed that I had to rush things, and I usually like to mix things up, but I’m glad at least one person liked it.
I wasn’t sure if it was my tio Raul’s birthday yesterday or not, but my cousin Carmen just confirmed it, so here’s a tribute to him.
He was born during the Revolution in Mexico, in San Luis Potosi, on February 18, 1913, the same day that his father was born back in 1885 in Asturias, Spain. Because of the war, it wasn’t long before my grandfather, his wife Zeferina, and my tio Raul moved up north to Arizona. He was less than a year old, in fact. My tios Valentin and Mino were born a few years later, in Ray/Sonora, Arizona, a mining town near Superior that is now long gone.
My grandparents with three of their sons–Raul, Val and Mino. Ray/Sonora, Az. circa 1919.
Tio Raul and Tia Prudencia
Uncle Raul and Aunt Prudence married in the late 30s. She was born in Cananea, Sonora, but moved to Superior when she was a young girl.
They ran a bakery and a store together in Superior, and then later he delivered milk to the people of the town and surrounding region. Tio Raul was well known and loved in his community, and was very generous to those in need.
My dad’s cousin Serino, Tio Mino, Tio Raul, Tio Val, my dad Alfredo and Tia Prudencia, around 1945-46.
Tio Raul and Tio Tony
Uncle Raul had tons of cigar boxes all over the place, it seemed. He smoked cigars all the time, and it was rare indeed to ever see him without one hanging from his mouth. …I took a few of these boxes home with me once and still have them somewhere. The lids are falling off because they’re so old.
My cousin Olivia wrote the following for inclusion in our family history book, titled “Diaz Family: Spain To America”. Olivia passed away recently. She was the eldest of all our cousins.
Uncle Raul’s eldest daughter, Olivia.
Alfred and Jo, (my mom and dad), with Uncle Raul and Aunt Prudence, some time in the mid-60s.
I used to love to go up to Superior with my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins to Uncle Raul’s house. It wasn’t very big, but we all managed to fit and we all had plenty to eat. He ran the dairy in Superior and outside was a big refrigerator where he kept the milk and other products he sold. We used to sneak in and help ourselves to chocolate milk all the time. I also loved banging on the old piano that was kept in a closet in one of the rooms. It seems like just yesterday.
The Diaz siblings, sometime in the 70s.
I’ll also never forget the time when we all found ourselves (about 30 of us cousins) in my uncle’s living room with our faces glued to the small black and white television. The Ed Sullivan show was on and his special guests that night were none other than the BEATLES! Wow. This was the first time I’d ever seen them and one of their first ever appearances on national tv. Life sure changed for everyone after that experience. We all became Beatle wannabes. My brother Rudy grew his hair long and joined a band, and we all had our favorites. Mine was Paul…
Tio Raul is seated in between his sisters Carmen and Helen. He always had a cigar in hand. He would give us his cigar boxes to play with when we were kids. My dad, Alfredo, Tio Mino, Tio Raul and Tia Eva, Mino’s wife.
My mom Josephine, Aunt Prudence and Aunt Helen.
Aunt Prudence suffered from arthritis most of her adult life. She preceded Uncle Raul in death at the age of 69 in 1983.
Aunt Prudence’s obituary
Tio Raul died two years later at the age of 72.
Tio Raul’s family at our first family reunion in 1993. Tio Raul’s family at our second family reunion in 2007.
My paternal grandfather, Antonio Díaz Palácios, (1885-1954), was a native of Asturias, Spain.
This is one of several versions of the Diaz family coat of arms. I found this one at the Spanish History Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Asturias, Spain.
Coat of Arms of the Municipality of Morcin, Asturias, Spain.
To learn more about the Kingdom of Asturias, way back in the “olden days”, see this article, titled, “The Asturian Kingdom: Chroniclers and Kings, 791-910”, by Roger Collins, from the book, Caliphs and Kings: Spain, 796-1031, published by Wiley, 2012.
This is a map of the region known as Morcin, which is directly to the south of Oviedo. My grandfather was born in a region (or parish) called San Sebastian de Morcin. It is on the lower left side of the map.
His parents were Josefa Palácios and Valentin Díaz. Valentin’s parents, my great-great grandparents, were Raymundo Fernandez Díaz and Maria Garcia. My grandfather had several siblings, including Soledad Díaz Palacios, Natalia Díaz Palácios, Rosita Díaz, Alfredo Díaz, Elvira Díaz and Belarma Díaz.
My great-great grandparents, Maria Garcia and Raymundo Díaz Fernández.
The house in San Sebastian de Morcín, where my grandfather was born. Another view of my grandfather’s house.
La Carbayosa, the church in San Sebastian de Morcin.
My grandfather was born in 1885, at a time when Spain’s influence and strength as a world power were well on the wane. In the early 1900’s, King Alfonso XIII hoped to gain back Spain’s prestige as a world power, as it had recently suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the US in the Spanish-American War. Flexing its military muscle once again, Spain went to war with Morocco (called the 2nd Rif War) to secure control of Morocco’s mineral wealth. Thousands of young working class Spanish men were drafted as conscripts, while their richer brethren were able to pay their way out of service. It was a bloody war, and many, many lives were lost. This did not sit well with the Spanish people. According to one source, “in 1909, troops embarked for Morocco protested the inequalities of military service. A general strike was proclaimed at Barcelona and other Catalonian cities …” It appears that the people of Asturias felt the same way about the war, and like thousands of other young men who left Asturias during the early twentieth century, my grandfather came to North America to avoid induction into the Spanish Army. He set sail to the Americas from the port of Gijon at the age of 21, never to return to his place of birth.
Port of Gijon, Asturias, Spain
My grandfather’s ship landed in Havana, Cuba in 1906, but after a short period of time, he decided that he did not like it there, as it was under U.S. occupation and there was tension in the air. He landed in Veracruz and worked in the shipyards there for a short while.
The port of Havana
Mexico.My grandfather and his cousin Emilio Palacio are on this list of immigrant arrivals into Texas and Arizona. They are 4th and 5th from the bottom.
By 1907, however, he made his way to the United States, and ended up in the Clifton-Morenci region, working in the mines there. One day my grandfather got into an argument with a bully, who demanded my grandfather give him a cigar, and when my grandfather didn’t comply, he started a fight with him, and he lunged at my grandfather with a knife, barely missing his body. My grandfather grabbed a pool cue and hit the man over the head with it, knocking him out cold.
Clifton, Az. overlooking the river.
Fearing for his life and thinking that he killed the man, my grandfather fled south to Mexico, ending up in Zacatecas, where he worked in the silver mines.
Around 1912, my grandfather met my grandmother, Zeferina Torres Gallegos(1895-1939), a native of the state of Zacatecas. My father said she was from Sombrerete, although others in the family thought she was from the capital of Zacatecas, also called Zacatecas, which is supposedly where they met. I recently discovered their marriage certificate:
Here’s a song about the beautiful city, Zacatecas, Zacatecas.
I’ve also recently discovered additional documentation. Zeferina’s father’s name was Blas Torres Perez. His parents were Seberiano Torres and Diega Perez. They also had other children including Dionisio, Maria, Longinas, Juana, and Nicolas. They baptized Blas on February 4, 1866 at San Matias, Pinos, Zacatecas.
La Parroquia de San Mateos, Pinos, Zacatecas, where my great great grandfather Blas Torres Perez was baptized in 1866.
Blas married Matiana Gallegos in Pinos, Zacatecas on May 10, 1884. He was 18 (b. 1866) and she was only 13. Matiana’s mother’s name was Feliciana Gallegos.
My grandmother had at least two siblings, Epigmenia Simon Torres Gallegos, and Gabina Torres, who died in infancy. Not much else is known about my grandmother’s early life, except that she was from a Spanish family and had a sister who likely moved north to the US as some point. My hunch is that my grandmother was born in Pinos, Zacatecas, as that is where her parents married and the location of her brother Epigmenia Simon’s grave. He died on November 28, 1986 at the age of 85.
Here’s one of a handful of songs about Zacatecas.
Pinos, Zacatecas was likely my grandmother’s place of birth.
My aunt Josie tried very hard to find out more about our grandmother, even going so far as to travel to Zacatecas to find out anything she could about her. She came up with nothing, unfortunately. It didn’t help that she had the names of her grandparents wrong. My grandmothers birth certificate indicates that her parents names were Florentina Garcia and Jose Torres. Not true.
My grandmother Zeferina Diaz Torres.
The Mexican Revolution hit Zacatecas in 1912, and my grandparents moved to San Luis Potosi where they were married at San Pedro, Cerro de San Pedro, San Luis Potosi (San Luis Potosi) on March 26, 1912. My uncle Raul Diaz was born there the following year, in 1913.
Raul Diaz’s baptism record.
In 1915, my grandfather was a payroll manager at the mine at which he worked. One early morning, he found a gun pointed in his face. It was the revolutionaries, demanding money. They took it, along with my grandmother’s wedding dress and other valuables, and left him with these words, “Que no salga el sol, Diaz”…which meant you better be gone by the time the sun comes up!
Here’s a song about the Battle of Zacatecas. My grandparents were in Mexico at the time, and this battle, the bloodiest of the Mexican Revolution, took place just west of where they lived at the time.
San Pedro, Cerro de San Pedro, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, the likely place of my grandparents wedding.
At that point, my grandparents decided to leave Mexico for good. They entered the U.S. through the El Paso port of entry in 1915.
The El Paso Port of Entry in the early 1900’s.
They soon made their way to central Arizona, a region rich in copper mining and jobs. They settled in Ray-Sonora, and lived there for several years. They were one of a handful of Spanish immigrant families living there. Two of my uncles, Valentin and Belarmino, were born in Ray. Valentin was born on March 8, 1917 and Belarmino’s date of birth was February 7, 1919.
Antonio and Zeferina Diaz with their children Raul, Valentin and Belarmino, 1919.
Ray-Sonora, Az.
My grandparents portrait in a brand new frame, May 23, 2020. I had the original photo restored several years ago.
After a few years spent working in the mines, my grandfather fell ill with miner’s consumption, a debilitating lung condition. He left mining behind, and moved his young family to the Verde Valley region of northern Arizona, where he started a dairy farm. My dad grew up working the fields, fishing and delivering milk to the neighboring communities. What a different life it must’ve been! For a quick, historical overview of the region, see the following description: Irrigation in the Verde Valley
The Verde Valley.
During this period, from 1920 to 1936, five more Diaz children, including my father, Alfred T. Diaz, were born and raised in and around Camp Verde. While the Great Depression made it difficult for the family, they got by somehow, even if it meant moving again and again.
1926. Camp Verde schoolchildren, including my dad Alfred and his brother Mino. Both are kneeling on the far left.
The Verde Valley region, where my father was born (Jerome) and raised.
My grandfather managed the UVX Dairy, located in Bridgeport, in the Twenties. I only recently found a photo of this milk container.
1930 Census
Meantime, in the mid to late 30’s, back in Spain, the Spanish Civil War was taking place, and the Republican forces fought some heavy battles against the nationalist fascist forces in my grandfather’s home state of Asturias. The following song, “Asturias” depicts some of the actual footage of the Spanish Civil War. I included it here primarily because the tune is so beautiful. The words are bittersweet when combined with the film footage. (For more information about what is known as the “Asturias Offensive” see this article from Wikipedia).
Around this time, my grandfather moved from the Verde Valley up to Flagstaff and then to Superior, a mining town just south of Globe, where he went back to work in the mines. Along the way, many of his cattle died from the cold, and my dad told me once that cholera had infected other livestock, killing them all off. The Great Depression hit the family hard. One day, my father remembered that our grandfather had gone to the bank to withdraw money, only to find the doors locked and shuttered. He lost practically everything he had.
In 1938, my grandfather’s cousin, Emilio Palacios, who owned a bar in Clemenceau, Az, passed away, within a year or two after his own wife’s passing. My grandfather adopted his nine children and took care of them. Below is an article that appeared in the Arizona Republic in 1938.
The Superior mine smelter.
Superior, Az.
By this time, my grandparents had nine children of their own–Raul, Valentin, Belarmino, Alfredo, Antonio, Rafael, Josefina, Helen and Carmen. Having so many children to care for, and moving so much took its toll on my grandmother. She contracted uterine cancer, and died shortly after the family moved to Superior. She is buried in the cemetary there.
My grandmother’s death certificate. The names of her parents were noted incorrectly, and it took many, many years to realize this. Her real parents were Blas Torres Perez and Matiana Gallegos.
my grandmother is buried in cemetery in Superior, Az. I took this photo back in the 1970s sometime.
1940 Census
Tata and some of his children, including Tony, Josie, Carmen, Helen and Alfredo.
My grandfather and his children, Superior, circa 1940.
My grandfather Antonio with some of his children, including Ralph, Josie, Helen and Carmen. I don’t know who the two smallest girls are.
My grandfather had his hands full after grandmother died. His youngest two daughters, Helen and Carmen, were well below the age of 10. As luck would have it, he met a lady named Angelita, a widow with children of her own. They decided to marry, and remained together until my grandfather died in 1954.
My grandfather and his second wife, Angelita. They were both widowed. Angelita’s first husband, Francisco Ramirez, died in 1941, and my grandmother Zeferina Torres died in 1939. Angelita and Antonio both had several children when they married in the early 1940s, so their household was packed with kids. They were together for over 12 years, until my grandfather’s death in 1954.
Nana Angie with my sister Irene. Angie was her nina. circa 1945.
In the late 40s my grandfather moved his family to Tucson. My dad says he had rented ranches in various places around town, including on Silver Lake Rd. near the Santa Cruz River, up in the Sabino Canyon area by the Rillito River, and also on the other side of town at a ranch formerly known as the Sotomayor Ranch, near River Rd and Oracle Rd.
1950 Census
Nana Angie with one of the family cows.
Aunt Helen and the kids on the ranchMy sister Becky and brothers Charles and Rudy at Tata’s ranch, around 1951-52.Nana Angie, my brother Charles, and my Mom, taking a break…
My four oldest brothers and sisters grew up going to the ranch with my mom and dad on the weekends. Mom loved being there and used to tell us how much she enjoyed spending time with our Nana Angie and our Tata, making tortillas outside, cooking food and sleeping under the stars at night. She would also love to tell us how our Tata would get my brother Carlos to help him milk the cows, and that he sometimes he would squirt milk straight from the cow right into his mouth. Becky says that Tata would get a little tipsy sometimes and get up on a table and dance flamenco, and he would point at all his grandchildren, saying to them, “ustedes son Espanoles!” My sister Irene also fondly recalls our Tata driving her back and forth to school at St. Peter and Paul Elementary school when she was a little girl. He would also sell vegetables that he bought at a discount from the local grocery chains to the people in the poorer sections of town more often than not giving it away to those who could not afford it. He was quite a guy. My brothers and sisters all spoke fluent Spanish as kids. I’m sure he had a lot to do with it. Wish I had known him. I was five years too late!
My father, Alfredo Diaz, at the ranch.
My mom Josephine with my grandfather in the early 50s.
The Arizona Daily Star, October 20, 1953. Selling off the last of the livestock. The move to the house on Riverview was about to happen.
My grandfather moved one last time to a house just north of Speedway on Riverview. He spent his last days there, and died on December 8, 1954. He was 69 years old. He’s buried in Superior, next to his wife Zeferina.
My grandfather’s obituary, Arizona Daily Star, December 10, 1954
The children of Antonio and Zeferina Diaz, circa 1961. Top row: Valentin, Carmen, Helen, Josephine, Raul. Seated: Alfredo, Rafael, Antonio Jr., and Belarmino.
The next generation of Diaz family members at a gathering in Superior in the mid-70s.
Nana Angie lived a long time. She never left the house on Riverview.
