Helvetia Smelter

Location

Unknown

Thirty miles south of Tucson in the foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains a group successfully worked the Old Frijole mine. The copper ore was smelted a few miles away by the Columbia Copper Mining Company. The Helvetia Copper Company was formed on March 4, 1899 to manage these properties. During 1900 the furnace was reported to be pouring 60 tons of copper on some days, but a fire wiped out the furnace on December 7, 1900. Copper prices were so good that they did not hesitate to secure a replacement - blown in May 1, 1901. The smelter went down May 1906; it was again revived in 1908, but it proved to be inadequate. ⁸

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References

1. Mineral Appraisal of Coronado National Forest, Part 12, Santa Rita Mountains Unit, MLA11-94 (1994). SR 591-609
   http://repository.azgs.az.gov/sites/default/files/dlio/files/nid1813/usbm_mla_011-94.pdf ore via
2. Mining in the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains of Arizona, U.S. Department of Interior, 1915. Republished 2014 by Kerby Jackson.
3. Mike Bertram,
4. USGS Mineral Resources Data System - using WGS84 (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/map-commodity.html#home)
5. Index of Mining Properties in Santa Cruz County by Staton B. Keith, bulletin 191, Arizona Geological Survey, 1975
6. Index of Mining Properties in Pima County by Staton B. Keith, bulletin 189, Arizona Geological Survey, 1974
7. https://www.rvwest.com/article/benson/All_aboard_and_headed_for_Benson
8. History of Smelting in Arizona, by Forrest R. Rickard, 1987; in History of Mining in Arizona, J. Michael Canty and Michael N. Greeley, eds. Published by the Mining Club of the Southwest Foundation, Tucson, Arizona, 1987.