Lavender Pit

Southern Arizona


To see the aftermath of open-pit mining, drive just south of Bisbee on Hwy 80 to the not-so-truthful 'Scenic View' sign. It's pointing toward the Lavender Pit, an immense stair-stepped gash in the ground that produced about 600,000 tons of copper between 1950 and 1974. It's ugly, but it's impressive.


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