About 60 miles southeast of the Phoenix area along State Route 177 lies Kearny, a relatively young town as Arizona communities go.
The Ray Mine was changing from underground to open pit, so the Kennecott Mining Co. started Kearny in the late 1950s to house residents who were displaced from the nearby towns of Ray, Sonora and Barcelona, which were being swallowed up by the growing copper mine.
Kearny's official website describes the town as "the melting pot of the West and one of the first planned integrated communities in the United States," bringing together formerly segregated communities, "with Mexican mining migrants living in Sonora, Spanish migrants living in Barcelona, and Anglo migrants living in Ray."
The Ray Mine, which is still in operation
but is now owned by ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Co.), the American subsidiary of transnational mining company Grupo Mexico, has roots going back to the 1870s, when prospectors first started working the ore-rich area that later became known as the "Copper Basin" in Pinal County. Hundreds of Arizonans now work for the mine.
Mining executives named the town after Brevet Maj. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny, who led part of the Army of the West along the Gila River in 1846 on its way to battle Mexican forces in California in the Mexican-American War.
A monument in town with a bronze plaque commemorates Kearny's famed stay: "On November 7, 1846, they journeyed down the Gila, passing near this marker and camped that night at the junction of the Gila River and a creek named by Lt. (William H.) Emory as 'Mineral Creek' on which the now famous mines of Ray, Arizona are located."
But Kearny is more than the mining.
Located between the Tortilla and Dripping Springs mountains, Kearny also offers desert beauty and outdoor recreation.
"Kearny is in the heart of ATV country," according to the Arizona Commerce Authority. "Hills and desert vegetation of the area provide opportunities for the rockhound, photographer, historian, bird watcher, botanist and hunter. Fishing, camping, walking and picnicking are popular along portions of the Gila River."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kearny is a young town for Arizona, but its mining roots run deep
