Christmas, Arizona and a Christmas Giveaway

With Nancy J. Farrier

What do you picture when you think of Christmas? Snow? Horses pulling sleighs

? A decorated tree? A manger scene? Most of us have those ideals of family, food, gifts, singing carols, but we also associate Christmas time with snow. Something you would see on a Christmas card.

Today I wanted to share Christmas in an unusual place. In the Arizona desert, two men, Dennis O’Brien and William Tweed, staked a claim for a mine around 1880. A couple of years later their claim was purchased by the Phelps Dodge Corp.

They built a road to the mine, and fashioned furnaces for smelting the ore. Dr. James Douglas began operating the mine. In 1884, the mine operations had to close down when they realized they were mining inside the San Carlos Indian Reservation. Mining wouldn’t resume until after the Reservation boundaries were moved in 1902. 

In December of 1902, the area once more became public domain. On Christmas Day Robert Chittenden and his partner staked new claims, giving the mine its name. Chittenden was quoted as saying, “We filled our stockings and named the place Christmas in honor of the day.” 

Arizona Copper

Over the next few decades the Christmas mine would produce 55 million pound of copper as well as some silver and gold. In 1909 or 1910, the town of Christmas began to form. Within ten years Christmas would have a meat market, Post Office, general store, billiards hall, and two club houses. 

1907 Christmas Postcard

After the opening of the Post Office in June of 1905, something interesting began to happen. In the fall, William Swingle, the postmaster, started to receive a deluge of cards and letters that people wanted to be sent from his post office. From all across the country, people wanted the official Christmas stamp on their mail. Even packages were sent to Christmas during the holiday season just so they would have the Christmas postmark. 

The town and mine went through a series of closing and openings depending on the price of copper. When bags of mail and packages were sent to the town for postage late in the year, they would be forwarded to the nearby town of Winkelman to be processed. Christmas mine is now closed down and the town is no longer inhabited. 

Have you ever heard of Christmas, Arizona? Have you seen the Christmas postmark? Letters bearing the stamp are a collectors item now. 

Please leave a comment below to be entered in a drawing for one of my books, The Immigrant Brides,  8 Weddings and A Miracle,The Timeless Love Collection,  or A Bride's Agreement. You can have your choice of books. Have a very blessed Christmas.

Nancy J Farrier is an award winning author who lives in Southern California in the Mojave Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. Nancy and her husband have five children and two grandsons. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Karen Ball of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.