Old Map of Bisbee, Arizona by USGS, 1910 – Douglas, Tombstone & Copper Queen Mine

Published in 1910 by the U.S. Geological Survey, “Bisbee” presents the celebrated copper district of southeastern Arizona at a scale of 1:62,500, capturing the terrain and settlement patterns of Cochise County in the early twentieth century. The map’s refined topographic language—earthy color washes, precise contour lines, and carefully lettered place names—conveys both scientific authority and visual elegance. Centered on Bisbee and the Mule Mountains, it records a landscape defined by steep ridges, passes, washes, mining works, roads, and trails. At a glance, the viewer sees why this region became one of the most important mining centers in the American Southwest: a rugged, mineral-rich borderland where geology shaped every road, town, and ambition.

Bisbee appears here at the height of its copper era, closely associated with the famous Copper Queen Mine and the rapid growth of company towns and supporting communities. Warren, developed as a planned mining suburb, is shown within the orbit of Bisbee’s expanding industrial landscape, while nearby hills and gulches reveal the difficult terrain into which streets, rail connections, and workings had to be fitted. Names such as Paradise Hill, Ghost Hill, and Bingo Hill add a vivid local character, suggesting both the romance and harshness of frontier mining life. The map is especially evocative because it does not merely locate Bisbee; it situates the town within the physical structure that made it prosper.

The topographic detail is one of the map’s great pleasures. Contour lines climb and curl through the Mule Mountains, making the ridges, canyons, and passes legible with remarkable clarity. Mule Pass, an important natural corridor through the mountains, stands out as a key route in a region where movement was dictated by elevation and slope. The surrounding washes and canyon systems, including McKelligon Canyon as noted in the area, help illustrate the erosive forces that shaped this arid landscape. To the west and northwest, the San Pedro River and the distant Huachuca Mountains broaden the geographical story, linking Bisbee’s mining district to the larger basin-and-range topography of southeastern Arizona.

Beyond Bisbee, the map reaches into a wider world of borderland towns, military posts, and transportation routes. Douglas and Naco speak to the region’s proximity to Mexico and its role in cross-border trade, while Cananea, just beyond the international line, recalls another major copper center in Sonora. Tombstone, already legendary by 1910, anchors the map in the mythology and history of the Arizona frontier. Fort Huachuca points to the strategic importance of the area, where military presence, mining capital, ranching, and migration intersected. Dashed roads and trails reveal a still-developing network of movement across difficult country, connecting mines, settlements, river valleys, and border crossings.

As a USGS production, this map belongs to an era when systematic surveying was transforming the American West from a landscape of exploration into one of measured resources, infrastructure, and administration. Its disciplined contours and restrained palette are more than cartographic conventions; they are instruments for understanding geology, water, access, and settlement. In the case of Bisbee, that understanding was inseparable from copper, a metal essential to electrification, industry, and modern urban growth. The map therefore captures a pivotal moment: an old frontier becoming an industrial landscape, with rugged mountains, desert corridors, mining towns, and international connections all rendered in a beautifully exact topographic form.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Bisbee, Arizona
• Mule Pass
• Warren
• Douglas
• Naco
• San Pedro River
• Huachuca Mountains
• Copper Queen Mine
• McKelligon Canyon
• Paradise Hill
• Ghost Hill
• Bingo Hill
• Tombstone
• Mule Mountains
• Fort Huachuca
• Cananea
• Cochise County
• Various roads and trails indicated by dashed lines

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1910
• Scale: 1:62,500
• Provides historical topographical data of Bisbee, Arizona and the surrounding area
• Features earthy tones representing elevation and landform contouring
• Uses contour lines to show elevation and geological features
• Captures the early 20th-century landscape of Bisbee
• Highlights a region known for its copper mining history
• Illustrates how the Bisbee area was developed and used in the early 1900s

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