Winters in Ajo

 

              Over the last few years, Anne and I have enjoyed spending winter months in southern Arizona. Specifically, in a town called Ajo. The state’s first copper mine was the genesis of Ajo. High-grade copper was discovered in the late 1800s, in the hills of this region of Arizona. For many decades, the community boomed.

          Alas, economies change. By the 1980s the cost of refinement of the copper ore in the U.S. had risen to a point that it became much cheaper to import the finished element from South America. Production at the mine ceased in 1985. I have borrowed from the internet some historic facts about Ajo.

The town was originally segregated, with neighborhoods called Indian Village and Mexican Town, for the non-white residents. Today, Ajo is home to many retired people, Border Patrol agents, and young families. During the construction of a new border wall in 2019-2020, many workers lived in the RV parks, motels, and rental houses. For the first three years of our visits to Ajo, we stayed in an RV park. Our 40-foot Horizon motorhome afforded us adequate comfort.

Following the closure of the copper mine operation, Ajo naturally went through a population exodus. Many families no longer had sources of revenue. The unincorporated town had a population of over seven thousand on the 1960 census. At this time, Ajo was the second-largest urban site in Pima county, behind Tucson. It was the 16^th largest community in Arizona. By the 2010 census, Ajo had decreased to just over three thousand residents.

            Ajo is located on highway AZ85. This road is a main route for winter vacation travelers coming from the north to Puerto Penasco. Puerto Penasco is in the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located on the northern shores of the Sea of Cortez, on the small strip of land that joins the Baja California Peninsula with the rest of Mexico. From Tucson to the southeast of Phoenix, vacationers can reach the beach resorts by traveling AZ86 westward, until it intersects at a junction with AZ85 at a community called Why. Why is ten miles south of Ajo.

Ajo is a town originally established solely to support the operations of the copper mine, in the 1920s. It is where segregation of the native Tohono O’odham, Mexican, and Anglo workers was a daily reality. Remnants of old buildings, divided communities, and the whispers of resilience still stand. Ajo is a community where you immediately feel a sense of warmth, authenticity, and peace. It is surrounded by thousands of acres of the Sonoran Desert, enveloped by endless stars in the nighttime sky. Ajo (pronounced ah-ho) is a gem of a small town in the middle of nowhere. It is said that locals joke that this is the place where summer secretly spends the winter, for there is clear warm weather prevailing year-round. 

Ajo was designed around a gracious Spanish Colonial plaza and two handsome white adobe churches. This spectacular heart of town, along with 98 of its earliest residences, entered the National Register of Historic Places in the late 1990s. Just up the street from the plaza is the town's architectural masterpiece, the 1919 Curley School, also on the Historic Register. It has been transformed into a thriving arts center with living and workspace for 30 artisans and their families. This endeavor allows artists from around the country to discover the joys of sunny days, clear light, and the inspiration of pristine landscapes.

BLM wilderness, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and the Tohono O'odham Reservation surround Ajo. They not only buffer it from urban sprawl, traffic jams, and smog but provide visitors with a unique desert ecosystem laced with hiking trails, pre-Columbian footpaths, Native American history and artifacts, wide-open spaces, and unusual flora and fauna.

Ajo receives about nine inches of rain annually, which accounts for the dry air and low humidity. Average spring and fall temperatures range in the low 70's; average winter temperatures drop to 55 degrees; summers average in the high 90's. At 1740 feet elevation, Ajo is slightly cooler than Phoenix. Ajo is an oasis in the Sonoran Desert where migratory birds rest on their journeys, coyote howl at the moon, and springtime carpets the land in a riot of brilliant wildflowers. The rock formations of the nearby Crater Range have been used as the backdrop for numerous Hollywood movies.

Many of the homes in Ajo date to the 1950s. These small, mostly two-bedroom houses were built for the miners during the mine's most productive years of operation. With the redefinition of Ajo as an artisan community, many of these older homes have been remodeled and they have become attractive assets for winter sun-seekers. The current median price for a home in Ajo is $62,800. This is almost 4-times less than that for Phoenix, 3-times less than the median cost of a home in Tucson, and over 6-times less than the price of homes in Flagstaff.

By the end of our 2020 trip to the south, the Horizon was beginning to present us with age-related maintenance headaches. We had seen many many miles of the U.S. and western Canada in our coach. It was sad to see it being driven away from its stanchion on the home’s rear parking pad. The motorhome chapter was closed.

For our 2021 winter visit to Ajo, we rented one of the older homes. One of Anne’s tennis partners owned the home. He and his wife graciously opened it for our use. This home is on W Guest House Road. The property is a couple of blocks from the Curley School Woodshop, where I found myself most weekdays.

We occupied one of the two bedrooms. The other bedroom was used as a craft room. This is where Anne did most of her quilt work. She also enjoyed weekly tennis, and she had weekly quilt club meetings. Members of the quilt club were challenged to build a quilt, following specific design guidelines. Anne is a precision seamstress. The quilt challenge was up her alley.

During our stay, the neighboring home was placed on the market. It had been being occupied by an elderly widowed lady. Her family recently relocated her to a retirement facility in Fortuna, CA. I had often looked over the fence at the rear yard of this home. Compared to other homes on Guest House Road, this yard had been well planned. It had a large patio area, with a built-in barbeque. There are a couple of producing orange trees. A vintage garage, with an adjoining, covered carport is located on the rear alley. The house has a thick weather-seal composition surface covering the wood lathed exterior. The foliage in the front yard, as well as at the rear is serviced with drip irrigation.

We made inquiries of the local realtor regarding a walk-through of the home and property. The home is on the market fully furnished. The beds even have fresh linens. The home has been remodeled to include an extended kitchen area, which is the dining room. A bathroom has been added to the master bedroom, making this a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home. Beyond the addition of the bathroom, there is a laundry room.

We liked the home, and we asked the realtor to write up an offer for its purchase. A couple of other families were also viewing this home. One of them had also made an offer and it had been accepted. Shucks. Well, that is what was happening in Ajo. Homes did not sit long on the market.

It was a couple of weeks later when the realtor gave me a call. It turned out that the original offer had been rescinded. We were now first in line. The first buyer had invested in a whole-home inspection. They were kind enough to pass the inspector’s report on to us. Of importance in the report were a couple of electrical problems. The inspector is also an electrician. He was immediately hired by the owner to correct the flaws that he had discovered.

Our offer was accepted by the seller. Paperwork was passed back and forth, and the official closing was done on the 2^nd of April. We chose not to have it done on the 1^st.

Anne and I are planning to make a trip to the property by mid-month. There are still lots of past family remnants that don’t fit our motif of the new Duncan winter home. Those artifacts will be shared with Saint Vincent’s and the regional dump. That done, and some deeper interior cleaning will set us in good stead. A list compiled of items that need to be brought with us on our next visit will also be made.

  Summer is definitely not the best time to visit southern Arizona. But fall, winter, and spring seasons will offer ample opportunity for us, and others to enjoy the attributes that Ajo offers. We look forward to our first, non-work visit.