The copper mined from the mountains beneath Jerome was part of one of the richest deposits in the world.
Processing that copper included decades of smelter operations down the hill in Clarkdale, a smelter with smokestacks that belched out the waste products from the furnaces across the area.
“What we have learned is that historic operations for which we are now responsible may have created environmental issues,” said Alicia Voss, remediation project manager for Freeport McMoRan. “Air emissions, no one really understood them nor were there regulations.”
Residents and agency representatives as varied as the National Park Service and local school boards took seats in the auditorium at the Clarkdale Memorial Clubhouse May 19 as Voss joined representatives from ADEQ and the Arizona Department of Health Services to explain what the town could expect in the coming months in regard to possibly contaminated soil.
The smelter was continuously operated from 1915 to 1932 by the United Verde Copper Company.
After a brief hiatus, the smelter was reopened by Phelps Dodge in 1935 and continued operating until it closed for good in 1953.
During those years, it’s quite possible that copper, zinc and arsenic, all elements harmful to humans in high concentrations, were sent up with the smoke in the form of particulates before settling into the soil.
To read the full story, see the Wednesday, May 27, edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
