Born and Raised in Space; The Legacy of Two Copper Mining Towns
Two towns that disappeared: Santa Rita, NM and Morenci, Arizona
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Finally, that summer my jefito got his permanent job in Morenci, Arizona and we moved right away before school started. I can still remember the drive from Silver City to Morenci, Arizona. Try to imagine a six-year old going from Silver City, to Duncan, Clifton and then to Morenci, Arizona. I was in terror when I saw the mountains and the canyons driving from Clifton and then to Morenci. I thought to myself what if we drive off into one of those canyons! As we drove by the smelter in the town of Plantsite, I got my first taste of sulfur smoke that we endured for the next twelve years! (When I worked for Kennecott Copper Corporation, almost twenty years later, I got the same sulfur smoke for another eight years). Morenci was a company town (literally) and everything revolved around the company, the store, housing groceries, furniture and clothing, There were a few privately owned homes or businesses and the center plaza, had a drugstore, post office, five-and-ten store, a butcher shop, a five-and-ten store. There was a movie theater, bowling alley, and a hotel right across the small center plaza. The big three-story building which was the Phelps Dodge company store was the main attraction! The whole town revolved around the small square between the bowling alley, company store, schools, and the small shopping area where the post office was located. We arrived in Morenci in the summer of 1953 late in the afternoon with our car, full of clothes. My father had already delivered our little furniture and it was not much! After unloading our belongings, my mom fixed us dinner, our specialty, pimento loaf sandwiches and pork and beans. To this day I cannot eat pimento loaf sandwiches! While we were eating, the roaches came out, and I mean big suckers (the big brown German roaches!). We had never seen roaches in Silver city (too cold), so it was very traumatic for all of us with this infestation of roaches. It got worse! My parents had been told by some of the neighbors to put the baby crib legs inside coffee cans filled with water to keep the scorpions out since scorpions were quite common in Morenci. We did it and apparently it works because the baby did not get stung. Do not step on scorpions barefooted!
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About the Book
This book is written as Cuentos, short stories, of my life growing up in small rough mining towns in Arizona and New Mexico. Although I wrote it as a humorous book it was not an enjoyable time for us growing up with with no English spoken in our homes. We were oftentimes punished for speaking in our native language, Spanish in class or even during playground times. I quickly learned that education was the key for me to enjoy a better life than my parents ever had. I instilled in my sons the value of education for them to succeed in their lives. I wrote this as short stories that will hopefully paint a complete picture of my life as it unfolded over the last seventy years.
About the Author
Samuel (Sammy) Sanchez was born in a small copper mining town (Santa Rita) and grew up in another small mining town (Morenci). The family moved to Morenci in 1952 where his father got a job as a laborer but they moved back to Silver City in 1963. Sammy graduated from Silver High School in 1964. He attended WNMU for two years and transferred to NMSU in Las Cruces, NM in 1966 where he graduated in 1970 with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He got married in 1968 to Sylvia Nava from Las Cruces. In July 1970 Sammy started working for Kennecott Copper Corporation as an Electrical Engineer in Hurley and Santa Rita, New Mexico. Sammy left Kennecott in 1978 and started working for Lockheed Electronics at the NASA site close to Las Cruces. After three years in 1981 White Sands Missile Range, NM) an Army research post close to Las Cruces offered Sammy a position. Thirty minutes after Sammy swore in for his job the Federal government froze all hiring for several months. Lucky me! He worked there as an Electrical Engineer, as the Master Planner for WSMR till he retired in 2016 with 35 years. Sammy was a carpenter, a plummer, an electrician and a home designer. He designed four houses including his own two houses that he built. Sammy pitched fast pitch softball for over thirty years and played in city leagues in several towns in New Mexico. He coached kid’s soccer in Las Cruces City leagues for ten years and coached his three boys as they grew up. All three boys graduated from NMSU with their college degrees. Sylvia worked at WSMR for thirty five years and retired in 1996.