Copper Basin Starting Down the High Line

A short freight consisting of three units and four old ore cars starts down the high line from Hayden toward Hayden Jct. This two mile branch is now operated by the Copper Basin Railway (since 1986) but historically was Kennecott Copper property and operated by their connecting carrier, the Southern Pacific. The SP owned the 54 mile branch from Magma Jct. (on the Phoenix Line main) to Winkelman from 1907 until 1986. Although, interestingly, the line built between 1902-1904 as the Phoenix and Eastern was leased to the Santa Fe for its first three years.

As Don Strack explained:

The town of Hayden, Arizona, was founded in 1909 as a wholly owned entity of the Ray Consolidated Copper Company, part of the Guggenheim corporate group which also held the controlling interest in American Smelting & Refining Co. The town was located near the confluence of the Gila and San Pedro rivers. In 1912 the company completed construction of the Hayden smelter and began processing ore from the Ray underground copper mine, north and east of Hayden. Ray Consolidated was purchased by Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, and then by Kennecott Copper in 1933. Through this purchase Kennecott acquired ownership of the company town of Hayden. In 1958 Kennecott began operating a second smelter in Hayden, but it was closed in 1982.

And that's what you see behind this small train. The two giant stacks are all that remains of the 1958 smelter that was demolished in 1984. However out of sight to the right is an even taller stack. At 1000 ft it dwarfs these and is very much in use as part of the ASARCO smelter. They purchased the original 1912 smelter from Kennecott in 1955 and have modernized it over the years. Today it is one of only three copper smelters left operating in the US along with Rio Tinto's ex Kennecott facility in Garfield, UT and Freeport McMoran's operation in Miami, AZ.

Check out this link for some facts from ASARCO's site:
www.asarco.com/about-us/our-locations/hayden-operations/

The town and the company have not been without controversy and while railfans know it for the CBRY most of the world knows of Hayden for its abominable environmental record and the staggering health effects on the citizens. If you care to learn more start here:

tucson.com/business/local/asarco-mining-giant-notching-10...

publicintegrity.org/environment/in-smelter-town-decades-o...

The Copper Basin has operated the 54 mile long Magma - Winkelman former Southern Pacific branchline since 1986. That year the SP sold the line to Kennecott Copper which immediately turned around and sold it along with their 7 mile private mine haul railroad from Ray mine to Ray Jct. and their branch from Hayden Jct. up to the Hayden smelter to create the CBRY. Later that same year Kennecott turned around and sold their Ray mine and all Hayden operations to ASARCO, operator of the original 1912 smelter in Hayden. Independent for its first 20 yrs, the CBRY was purchased by ASARCO (virtually its sole reason for existence now) in 2006.

CBRY GP40-2 303 leading the train was still wearing its Iowa, Chicago and Eastern paint at the time, but the unit was built as SSW 7268 in Oct. 1984.

Hayden, Arizona
Saturday December 7, 2013

Taken in: United States / Arizona / Hayden (show map)

Taken on: December 7, 2013

Sets appears in: • Arizona

Groups appears in: • Railfan Atlas

Camera: Canon EOS 60D, f/8.0, 1/400 sec, 32mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 60D
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/400)
Focal Length:	32mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Snapseed 2.0
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