AZ Mass Deforestation

Note:

That collection of mining photos on this page—MASSIVE wood mills in barren desert landscapes that remain unchanged today. It raises some interesting points:

Resource Logistics – These mills needed enormous amounts of water and energy, yet they operated in arid regions. How was water transported or sourced? Did they deplete underground aquifers, contributing to today’s dry conditions?
Desert Persistence – Despite industrial-scale operations, these areas didn’t develop into major cities. Why? Did the depletion of resources, lack of water, or harsh conditions make long-term settlement impossible?
Environmental Impact – If these sites once supported large-scale milling but remain barren today, it suggests mining exhausted local resources without long-term sustainability.
Desertification – All photos from this time frame appear the same, void of trees, yet these were lumber mills. And smelting takes a tremendous amount of wood to fire the furnaces.

It’s worth digging into (pun intended) how these areas were altered by mining operations. Were any of them once more fertile? That could explain California’s strict mining policies—lessons learned from other regions.

Smelters at Bisbee ca. 1900

The Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, Arizona, opened in 1880 and became one of the largest and most productive copper mines in the world by the late 19th century. It played a key role in making Arizona the top copper-producing state in the U.S.Copper Queen was one of the largest mining operations of its time, but Morenci took over in size and output in the long run.

Man-Made Desertification:
The Forgotten Forests and Rivers of the Southwest

1840s: California Gold Rush Begins

Rapid expansion of mining towns increases demand for timber.
Smelting Gold takes a tremendous amount of trees to fuel the fires
Large-scale deforestation begins to support mining, construction, and fuel needs.

1860s: Peak of Hydraulic Mining and Logging

Hydraulic mining becomes dominant, requiring vast amounts of timber for dams, flumes, and tunnels.
Deforestation accelerates, removing trees that played a role in regional precipitation cycles.
Forest loss disrupts the natural transpiration cycle, reducing atmospheric moisture levels.

Ore mill and Smelter at Morenci

Morenci became the largest copper mine in North America and one of the biggest in the world. While the Copper Queen Mine was significant in its prime, it peaked earlier and declined as open-pit mining became dominant.

1870s: Environmental Impact Becomes Apparent

Rivers clog with sediment from deforested land and mining runoff.
Local climate shifts occur, with increasing reports of drying waterways and habitat destruction.

1890s: Broken Hydrological Cycle

With deforestation in Calornia, trees no longer pull moistor from the coast into mountains.
Less rainfall and river flow coming into Arizona

Arizona’s Deforested Landscape (Pre-1600s – 1800s)

Arizona was once covered in dense forests. Historical and physical evidence suggests a significant transformation from lush, tree-covered lands to arid desert due to deforestation, overgrazing, and industrial mining.

Tucson Forest & Mount Lemmon

A U.S. Forestry plaque on Mount Lemmon states that the trees now on the mountaintop were once on the valley floor—just 100 years ago.
This suggests a major shift in vegetation, likely due to human intervention rather than gradual climatic changes.
Approximately 300 to 400 years ago, the Tucson area featured more extensive riparian forests along the Santa Cruz River, with cottonwood and willow trees flourishing along its banks. These lush areas supported diverse wildlife and provided resources for indigenous communities

Southern Arizona’s Oak Tree Forests

The Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee contains a 15-foot-diameter oak tree used to support the mine shaft—one that the author personally touched.
This tree, along with countless others, was cut down to fuel the smelting of copper from mines in Bisbee, Jerome, and other locations.
Historical photos of Bisbee show it as a desert after the deforestation had already occurred, evidenced by the oak trees being repurposed as mining supports.
The remaining “oak shrubs” in Southern Arizona are likely the roots of former oak trees, unable to regenerate into full forests due to the loss of the natural rain cycle.

Tombstone Companies’ M & M 10-Stamp Mill at Charleston, Arizona

Baja California’s Lost Forests

Oral histories from locals in Baja California claim that “Gringos” cut down all the trees along the Baja coastline to fuel steamships before railroads were constructed.
This aligns with similar deforestation patterns seen in Arizona and Sonora.

Arizona’s Lost Rivers & Grasslands (1600s – 1800s)

Arizona was once home to large rivers, teeming with fish and bordered by grasslands that reached 12 to 18 feet tall—as reported in historical accounts.

Historically, much of Arizona’s rivers flowed perennially, supporting diverse ecosystems and human settlements. Over time, factors such as groundwater pumping, dam construction, beaver hunting, hydromining, clear cutting for mining, and diversions have significantly reduced the year-round flow of these rivers.

Massive tree in Tucson

Colorado River & The Many Lost Rivers of Arizona

The book Steamboats of the Colorado River describes a Colorado River so large that horses struggled to swim across it.
Many Arizona rivers that once fed this system have since disappeared, some of which contained salmon as long as a man’s outstretched arms.

Colonel Henry Hooker’s Sierra Bonita Ranch (1872)

In 1872, Hooker discovered the Sulphur Springs Valley, describing it as a lush, verdant area with grasses taller than a man on horseback.
Overgrazing and drought led to severe environmental degradation, permanently altering the landscape.

Industrial Mining & Environmental Collapse (1800s – 1900s)

Arizona’s transformation into a desert was not purely natural—human activity, including mining, deforestation, and overgrazing, played a major role.

Copper Queen Mine at Bisbee, Arizona 1883

Hydraulic Mining & Mesa Formation

- Mainstream geology attributes mesas and buttes to millions of years of erosion.
- Hydraulic mining—using high-pressure water to blast away earth—was widely used in Arizona’s mining operations.
- Some researchers suggest that Arizona’s mesas and buttes were artificially carved out by large-scale hydraulic mining rather than millions of years of erosion.

However, some researchers argue that hydraulic mining and industrial activity may have artificially carved out the landscape in a much shorter time.

Ancient mining operations suggest the possibility of pre-Columbian or even pre-historic civilizations engaging in large-scale resource extraction.

The Role of Mining in Arizona’s Deforestation

Copper smelting required massive amounts of fuel, leading to the destruction of entire forests.
If the “oak brush” outside the Copper Queen Mine is indeed regrowth from clear-cut forests, this confirms a once heavily wooded region.
This deforestation disrupted natural rainfall cycles, preventing the regrowth of trees.

California’s Landscape Transformation (1850s – 1900s)

California’s environment was also radically altered by hydraulic mining and industrial expansion, reshaping everything from the coastline to inland water systems.

The California Coastline’s Shifting Borders

Old maps (16th–19th century) depict a different California coastline, suggesting land loss or major geographical changes in recent centuries.
If hydraulic mining washed massive amounts of sediment downstream, it could have buried previous shorelines and altered the landscape.

Hydraulic Mining & The Fertile Inland Empire

During the Gold Rush (1850s–1880s), hydraulic mining blasted mountainsides apart, washing massive amounts of sediment into the Central Valley.
This created the fertile soil that later turned the Inland Empire into prime agricultural land.
In 1884, lawsuits over mining runoff clogging rivers led to the banning of hydraulic mining, proving its drastic environmental impact.

The Salton Sea: A Man-Made Enclosure?

Official history states the Salton Sea formed in 1905 due to an irrigation accident.
However, some evidence suggests that mining sedimentation had already started enclosing the area, possibly contributing to its formation before 1905.

Timeline of Environmental Transformation

Time Period	Event
Pre-1600s	Arizona and Baja California were lush, forested regions with massive rivers, towering oaks, and grasslands 12–18 feet tall.
1600s–1700s	Early Spanish and European explorers observed salmon-filled rivers and dense woodlands in Arizona.
1800s	Industrial activity, including copper mining and deforestation, escalated in Arizona and Baja.
1872	Colonel Henry Hooker described Sulphur Springs Valley as a lush paradise—before overgrazing and drought turned it into desert.
Late 1800s	Steamships and railroads accelerated deforestation in Baja and Arizona.
1850s–1880s	Hydraulic mining during the California Gold Rush reshaped the Inland Empire, washed silt into rivers, and altered the California coastline.
1884	Hydraulic mining was banned due to excessive environmental damage.
1905	The Salton Sea officially formed, but mining sedimentation may have contributed to its enclosure earlier.
1900s-Present	Arizona’s rivers dried up, forests never regrew, and vast regions were left permanently desertified.

CA outlawed hydromining, they saw the damage in AZ

California’s ban on hydromining (hydraulic mining) in 1884 was officially due to the environmental devastation it caused, especially during the Gold Rush—rivers clogged with debris, farmland ruined, and entire ecosystems disrupted. However, if Arizona’s modern hydromining operations caused significant environmental damage, it’s possible California saw that as a cautionary tale.

While specific instances of hydraulic mining in Arizona are scarce, the state has faced significant environmental challenges from various mining activities. For example, the Pinto Valley Mine has been linked to the drying up of Pinto Creek, affecting local ecosystems. EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Additionally, the Carlota Mine, an open-pit copper operation, has raised concerns over water usage and contamination in the Pinto Creek watershed. EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

These examples highlight the environmental impacts of mining in Arizona, which may have influenced California’s decision to ban hydraulic mining to prevent similar ecological damage.

Final Thoughts: A Forgotten History of Desertification

Human activity—not just climate change—was a major driver of desertification in the Southwest and Baja.
Industrial deforestation, mining, and overgrazing permanently altered Arizona’s rivers, forests, and ecosystems in just a few centuries.
The mainstream narrative of gradual climate shifts overlooks rapid environmental destruction that may have happened within living memory.

This suggests a hidden history of environmental transformation, where the Southwest and parts of California were once far greener than we are led to believe today.

Man-Made Desertification:
The Forgotten Forests and Rivers of the Southwest

1840s: California Gold Rush Begins

Rapid expansion of mining towns increases demand for timber.
Smelting Gold takes a tremendous amount of trees to fuel the fires
Large-scale deforestation begins to support mining, construction, and fuel needs.

1860s: Peak of Hydraulic Mining and Logging

Hydraulic mining becomes dominant, requiring vast amounts of timber for dams, flumes, and tunnels.
Deforestation accelerates, removing trees that played a role in regional precipitation cycles.
Forest loss disrupts the natural transpiration cycle, reducing atmospheric moisture levels.