The train from Williams pulled to a stop at Anita, the end of the line. It was March 15, 1900. The few passengers taking the first trip on the new Grand Canyon Santa Fe Railroad stepped down on the dry rocky ground where only a sparse covering of grass grew. No station existed, not even a platform. Nothing was visible except a few head of cattle off to the west that kept their distance from the huffing and puffing man-made monster that encroached on their domain. W.W. Bass, Ralph Cameron and Martin Buggeln were on hand with their stage coaches lined up close to the track to transport the visitors to the Canyon twenty miles up the road. The train made the five and one half hour trip less arduous than the all-day wagon drive from Williams or Flagstaff.

That was ninety-one years ago, and it didn't take much imagination to carry on back those many years when on Saturday April 20, 1991 Al Richmond led the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society on a field trip to Anita Junction and mines. Seventeen members and visitors met at Moqui Lodge just outside the National Park and traveled the old dirt road through the pines and junipers to Anita. We arrived just in time to see the steam locomotive chugging along the track on the way to the Canyon. Here Al told us the story of the mines in the area that brought the railroad about. Close by the track is the only remaining indication of the town, the old loading ramp the mines used to dump the ore into the railroad cars, and just beyond the cattle pen the ranchers used when they shipped their cattle to market.

Al continued his story of Anita at the William Lockridge cabin where the group sat around in the shade of a juniper tree for a picnic lunch, surrounded by mounds of yellow dirt and rocks, some showing green malachite ore dug from the holes that honeycombed the area. Many of the prospectors and miners used only a pick and shovel to get this mineral out of the ground. It was a sparse living involving hard labor to eke out a bare existence, but during the 1930s this little bit kept the families from starving.

After we stowed away the picnic baskets we traveled to the main Anita mine. Those of us who drove sedans hitched a ride in the four-wheel drive vehicles to make the twenty minute climb to the mine. In the old days it must have taken all day to get a wagon load of copper ore down to the loading ramp at the railroad.

Al explained the main Anita mine was the only one dug as a shaft, the others were tunnels in the hillside or open pit mines. The head-frame built over the mine to lift the ore out has collapsed but the timbers lining the walls of the shaft appear as sturdy and solid as ever, though he said he wouldn't trust them. We listened while Al dropped a rock down the opening. The several seconds before it hit the bottom proved the shaft was 500 feet deep. The more adventurous members of the group wandered down a gully into some of the openings to inspect other diggings before we headed back down the trail and homeward.

To those unfamiliar with the history of Grand Canyon area the outing offered a chance to learn, and to others it was an opportunity to have a good time climbing over the rocks and eating a good picnic lunch with friendly folks.

Used by permission of the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society.

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