Helvetia is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populati ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States that was settled in 1891 and abandoned in the early 1920s.

Helvetia Helvetia () is the female national personification of Switzerland, officially ''Confoederatio Helvetica,'' the Swiss Confederation. The allegory is typically pictured in a flowing gown, with a spear and a shield emblazoned with the Swiss fl ...

is an ancient name for Switzerland.

History

Helvetia was founded in 1891 for the settlement of workers from the surrounding

copper mine Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

s. At its peak the city had 300 inhabitants, of which most were Mexicans. At one point, Helvetia had a public school (run by School District No. 14, Pima County). In 1911, the mines closed, due to low commodity prices. The

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, which had opened on December 12, 1899, closed on December 31, 1921, marking the end of the town. The 1967 western film '' Hombre'' was shot in Helvetia.

Today

There is not much left of Helvetia to see, simply a pair of foundation walls rising above a floor, the ruins of the smelter, and the cemetery. In the vicinity there are slag heaps and shafts from the mines. Although the town is gone, there are several homes in the immediate area that are still in use, including the Helvetia Ranch.

Geography

Helvetia is located in the

Santa Rita Mountains The Santa Rita Mountains ( O'odham: To:wa Kuswo Doʼag), located about 65 km (40 mi) southeast of Tucson, Arizona, extend 42 km (26 mi) from north to south, then trending southeast. They merge again southeastwards into the Pat ...

, north of Madera Canyon, at .

The Rosemont project

The Rosemont project is a large

porphyry copper Porphyry copper deposits are copper ore bodies that are formed from hydrothermal fluids that originate from a voluminous magma chamber several kilometers below the deposit itself. Predating or associated with those fluids are vertical dikes of ...

deposit nearby, which may yet be developed into a mine pending proper approval. There is an extensive area of porphyry copper mineralization between Helvetia and the ghost town of Rosemont. Four centers of potentially economic copper mineralization are known. The best-delineated deposit is the Rosemont, which has a geological ore reserve of around 550 million tons at about 0.45% copper, with significant molybdenum and silver credits. In 2010, Rosemont was owned by Augusta Resources. Augusta hoped to put the Rosemont into production as early as 2011. The Rosemont Copper plan was to create a 21st-century mine in Southern Arizona. Rosemont's plan set new higher standards for environmental protection by using new technologies for water conservation and tailings storage. In addition Rosemont Copper was expected to produce more than 2,900 jobs annually for the state of Arizona and more than $19 billion in economic activity. Rosemont Copper's plan was being reviewed by numerous local, state, and federal authorities and would only be issued permits to operate once all environmental protections were in place. There is significant local opposition s of 12/23/2015 no mining operations have startedto the construction of the mine, including concerns about the loss of the multiple historic and pre-historic sites that are in the area, cultural resources, and natural habitation."Rosemont mine benefits are small, short-term, negatives lasting, costly"
op-ed, Arizona Daily Star, March 9, 2010

Gallery

File:Helvetia_Arizona_1901.jpg, Helvetia in 1901. File:Makeshift_Dwellings_Helvetia_Arizona_1902.jpg, Makeshift dwellings in Helvetia in 1902. File:Helvetia_Smelter_Arizona_Before_1921.jpg, The smelter in Helvetia, sometime before 1921. File:Helvetia_Smelter_Ruins_Arizona_2014.jpg, The ruins of the smelter in 2014. File:Helvetia_Hotel_Ruins_Arizona_2014.jpg, The fenced-in ruins of an adobe hotel in Helvetia. File:Helvetia_Cemetery_Arizona_2014.jpg, The Helvetia Cemetery in 2014. File:Bulldozer_Mine_Ruins_Helvetia_Arizona_2014.jpg, Ruins of the mine. File:USGS Map of Santa Rita and Patagonia Mts 1910.jpg,

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

map of southeastern Arizona including Helvetia, 1910. File:Azurite-Malachite-284762.jpg,

Azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic carb ...

malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fracture ...

from Helvetia. Size: 6.6 x 4.3 x 3.1 cm.

References

External links

Photos and information
at ghosttowns.com
Helvetia mining district

Helvetia graveyard photo

Helvetia history and photos

NY Times article on Rosemont Copper and its opposition, published March 21, 2012.

– Ghost Town of the Month at azghosttowns.com {{Pima County, Arizona Former populated places in Pima County, Arizona Ghost towns in Arizona Populated places established in 1891 1891 establishments in Arizona Territory Populated places disestablished in 1921 1921 disestablishments in Arizona Cemeteries in Arizona