Editing Ajo, Arizona (section)

==History==
''Ajo'' is the Spanish word for [[garlic]] ({{IPA|es|ˈaxo}}).  The Spanish may have named the place using the familiar word in place of the similar-sounding [[O'odham language|O'odham]] word for paint (''oʼoho'').  The [[Tohono O'odham]] people obtained red paint [[pigments]] from the area.

[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], Spaniards, and Americans have all extracted mineral wealth from Ajo's abundant [[ore]] deposits. In the early nineteenth century, there was a Spanish [[Mining|mine]] nicknamed "Old Bat Hole" that was abandoned due to Indian raids. [[Tom Childs|Tom Childs Sr.]], found the deserted mine complete with a {{convert|60|ft|m|adj=on}} shaft, [[mesquite]] ladders, and [[Rawhide (textile)|rawhide]] buckets in 1847. He did not stay long at that time, because he was on his way to the silver mines near [[Magdalena de Kino, Sonora]].

Thirty-five years later, Childs and his son returned with a friend and started developing the abandoned mine.

<blockquote>In the year 1884, the camp at Ajo was practically abandoned. Not a soul was in camp when Tom Childs Sr., and his son arrived. With them was Washington Michael Jacobs of [[Tucson, Arizona]] ... Childs and Jacobs located the mining claim which constituted most of the old Ajo group of mines. They made a permanent camp and worked the mines.<ref>Rose, Dan, 1936, ''The Ancient Mines of Ajo'', Mission Publishing, Tucson, AZ</ref></blockquote>

High-grade native [[copper]] made Ajo the first copper mine in Arizona. Soon the Arizona Mining & Trading company, formed by [[Peter Rainsford Brady|Peter R. Brady]], a friend of Childs, worked the rich surface ores, shipping loads around [[Cape Horn]] for smelting in [[Swansea]], [[Wales]], in the mid-1880s. The mine closed when a ship sank off the coast of [[Patagonia]]. Long supply lines and the lack of water discouraged large mining companies

With the advent of new recovery methods for low-grade ore, Ajo [[Boomtown|boomed]]. In 1911, Col. [[John Campbell Greenway]], a [[Rough Riders|Rough Rider]] and star [[Yale]] athlete, bought the [[New Cornelia mine]] from John Boddie.  He became general manager of the Calumet and the Arizona mining company and expanded it on a grand scale. The [[Tucson, Cornelia and Gila Bend Railroad]] was built from Gila Bend to serve the mining industry and was in service from 1916 to 1985. In 1921, [[Phelps Dodge]], the nation's largest copper company, bought New Cornelia and the mine became the New Cornelia Branch of Phelps Dodge, managed by Michael Curley. For several decades more than 1,000 employees worked for Phelps Dodge in the [[open pit mine]]. In 1983 union-affiliated mine employees [[Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983|went on strike]]. The mine continued with non-union labor for a short while before stopping production in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Ajo {{!}} Ajo, Arizona|url=http://www.ajochamber.com/explore/history-of-ajo/|access-date=October 21, 2021|language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Arizona - Rowood through Shipolovi - NARA - 23933783.jpg|thumb|left|Former Rowood Copper Smeltery, 1940s]]

The town was originally segregated, with neighborhoods called Indian Village and Mexican Town for the non-white residents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/03/ajo-arizona-part-1-a-small-town-pushed-to-the-brink/388976/|title=An Open-Pit Mining Town Finds a Second Life|last=Fallows|first=Deborah|date=March 30, 2015|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=December 31, 2019}}</ref> Ajo is home to many retired people, [[United States Border Patrol|Border Patrol]] agents, and young families.

During the construction of a new border wall in 2019–2020, many workers lived in the RV parks, hotels and rental houses.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gilbert|first=Samuel|date=April 16, 2020|title=Pandemic fears in border towns as workers flock in to build Trump's wall|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/16/trump-border-wall-coronavirus-pandemic-ajo-arizona|access-date=May 1, 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>