Type Private Defunct 1917 Products Copper | Industry Copper mining Area served United States Founded 1874 | |
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Key people William E. Dodge, Jr., Daniel Willis James, James Douglas Headquarters Morenci, Arizona, United States Parent organizations Phelps Dodge, Freeport-McMoRan Founders Eber Brock Ward, William Church | ||
The Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona was an American copper mining and smelting company based in Morenci, Arizona. Incorporated in 1874, it existed as an independent company until 1881 when a controlling interest in the company was purchased by the Phelps Dodge Corporation. It continued to exist as a subsidiary of Phelps Dodge until 1917, when all Phelps Dodge operations in the area were consolidated into the new Phelps Dodge, Morenci Branch.
History
The company was co-founded in 1874 by Captain E. B. Ward, a wealthy steamboat owner from Detroit, Michigan, and William Church, a mine speculator from Denver, Colorado. Actual mining operations did not begin until 1875, however. The company consisted of 145 mining claims near Morenci. In time, the company owned a large store, a hotel, and considerable amounts of additional property in the town of Morenci. It also established a water pumping plant on the San Francisco River seven miles away. The quality of the "Detroit lode" yielded about 140 pounds of copper per ton of ore mined. But traditional mechanical concentration methods could not be used to process the ore; a furnace had to be used, increasing the cost of the operation and limiting the company's profitability until such time as it could raise enough capital to expand its smelting operations. Luckily, Detroit Copper Mining was the only company of any size to operate in the area until 1900.
Church founded the town of Morenci to supply housing and services to workers employed by the new mine. The company employed mostly Mexican miners, who were paid about half what Caucasian miners earned. As mining operations expanded, the town of Clifton was settled to provide additional housing.
The Phelps Dodge Corporation purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1881.
In May 1882, the company agreed to co-develop the "Detroit lode" with the Longfellow Copper Mining Company (later purchased by the Arizona Copper Company). Although federal and state law provided that the company which accessed the lode at a shallower level had the right to develop the entire deposit, Detroit Copper lacked the capital to do so and agreed to permit Longfellow Copper to mine the lode as well.
As with many mines in Arizona and New Mexico at the time, the Detroit Copper Mining Co. saw several waves of labor union organizing as well as strikes from 1900 onward. Detroit Mining used labor spies to infiltrate nascent unions and stop organizing campaigns.
Phelps Dodge Corporation bought out all remaining minority partners in 1897.
After a 1917 reorganization, the company ceased to exist. The operation was known as "Phelps Dodge Corporation, Morenci Branch."