Description

Group of miners at Congress Mine, Yavapai County, Arizona. Mine superintendent Jack Martin appears in the lower right hand corner.

The mine was located at an elevation of 3396 feet. Its’ main commodities were gold and silver, as well as copper, lead and uranium.

Congress, and the Congress Mine, boomed in the 1890's with the arrival of the railroad just a few miles away at Congress Junction. New investors poured money into the mine's infrastructure. The Congress mine, also nicknamed “Queen of the Hills,” became for a time one of Arizona's largest gold producers. An article in the December 22, 1897 edition of the Arizona Weekly Journal Miner boasted: “A visit to the Congress Mine would convince the most skeptical of the mineral resources of the southern part of the county. The pay roll at Congress embodies 425 men and this number is regularly employed. The present mines have plenty of gold in sight…”

The life of a hard rock miner was not an easy one. They lived in crude shacks and boarding houses with thin plank partitions, they worked in and many time collapsed from heat exhaustion in mines that went 2,000 feet underground and they froze in outdoor privies. Occupational hazards included mine collapses, drilling mishaps, pneumonia, “miner’s consumption,” and rheumatism. Falls were a common cause of death. Some miners were injured in explosions or electrocuted. Others fell off ladders, slipped on rocks, inhaled silica dust, or suffered from mercury, lead or arsenic poisoning. Many got sick from drinking dirty water and living too close together.

Simple candles and lamps provided the only light in a mine’s underground drifts and winzes. They burned 24 hours a day. Temperatures surpassed 100 degrees Fahrenheit at depths of 1500’ and beyond. Miners wore minimal attire, breechcloths or long underwear bottoms only. Narrow-brimmed hats or felt skullcaps and rudimentary shoes were the extent of their “safety equipment.”

One shaft of the Congress mine reached down more than 4000 feet, reportedly deeper than any mine in the Southwest at the time. The mine was successful enough to attract an American President, President William McKinley toured the works during his western trip on May 7, 1901.

W. J. Martin, more commonly known as "Jack" Martin in the mining field, was considered one of the most reliable and conservative of mine managers. He figured prominently in the opening of and overseeing a successful series of mines, including the Congress, the Crowned King, the Little Jessie and the Bonanza and Golden Eagle group of mines.