Bookworm Press

During my recent visit to my family and friends in El Centro, California, we visited an old mineral mine, called Caste Dome, in the Arizona desert. It was used to extract silver and other important minerals. It is now a historical site and was left as it was in 1878 with minor updates, mainly for safety reasons.

Before you venture out to visit it, make sure your car’s tires are solid and in good condition, and please drive carefully. Calling the path to the site a rough road is an understatement, but it’s well worth the drive.

Here are a few pictures of this testament to the hard and dangerous work of the miners.

 

Castle Dome

 

 

The miners’ humble abode

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education was important even in this isolated community. Here is the schoolroom and a teacher.

 

History lesson

Time for a shave or a bath!

 

 

Time for lunch or a break

Extracting the minerals

 

You cannot have only work and no play!

 

 

 

Cooking, the old-fashioned way

You could call this a “classic car.” It probably belonged to one of the bosses.

 

Very important building!

And so is this building! There is even a jail. Sometimes bad things do happen out in the wilderness and among people from all walks of life

 

It was a hard and dangerous life

This is just a sample of what to see at Castle Dome in the Arizona desert. Take a trip and enjoy a historical journey back into the 19th century.

Tags: Arizona, Castle Dome, history