The Lovely Christy and I were recently visiting Jerome, Arizona, an old copper mining town of 400 people. Presently, their main industry is tourism, but in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Jerome was a bustling community of over 15,000 people, most serving the mining industry in some way. We visited the State Historic Park to learn more about the town and lives of its inhabitants. Here’s what I will tell you: The life of a miner was hard. That term is relative, but by most standards, they lived difficult lives. Every day, they went to work hoping they didn’t die that day based on real physical dangers such as explosions, fires, rockslides and so on. Think about it. How many times have you gone into work and wondered if something about your job was going to literally kill you that day? Now ask yourself: Is your job “miner hard” or “minorly hard?”
Considering those questions, here are a few insights and inspirations I gained from what I learned about this little town and the mining industry of the past.