Douglas Smelter

The Douglas Smelter is no longer there, however a bunch of the out buildings and the warehouse are.  The property is closed to the public, so do not go sneaking around, it is also located right on the border with Mexico, so sometimes you will see Border Patrol driving around the site.  I got permission to shoot these photos, but it was still an iffy thing to do, to get to the main building is like trying to navigate a maze, and I would definitely recommend a high clearance vehicle because only one road in is maintained in any way, and it is always gated off.

Phelps Dodge is the one that owned and ran the smelter for many years, and at one point anything in this state that was shipped thru Phelps Doge went thru the warehouse, which seems like a big hassle considering there are mines all over the state and having to send all of it to a little border town in the corner is just a bit ridiculous. 

These are the admin buildings at the Smelter back in the late 60's or early 70's.

Another view of the Admin Buildings, these buildings still stand today, just without the pretty landscaping.

This was the managers house, I do not remember whether it is still there or not.

The Smelter, it is no longer there, though you can still tell where it once stood because of the pilings around it.

The powerhouse.

Watertank

The warehouse

Inside the warehouse.

Safety info within the warehouse.

This is where the trains would pull into the warehouse.

You can see where things have been filled in or patched all throughout the building.

Pilings left over from the smelter.

The Border fence.

Inside one of the admin buildings, you can tell the era the buildings were built by the decorating.

The entire back part of the building was once home to cubicles and secretaries.