.En .español**
This picture of the high school, drawn by Kathy's Dad, was used on .Ray High School stationary. Mr. .Case also took pictures of downtown .Ray. These have been distributed to others including the museum in .Florence, AZ.
(I asked Kathy where the HS was --ovk) The elementary school was .Lincoln Elementary. Straight above, about a mile walk, was .Ray High School. The two schools were connected by an old trail with stairs that many kids used. Later a shorter trail, sort of paved and straighter, was built.
Kathy's Dad was Randolph V. .Case. He was the second elementary principal at Lincoln Elementary, he also went to Sonora Elementary. Kathy's Mom, Berniece .Case, taught high school English and history and worked in the library
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Dusty writes that there was a bar in Ray, the Richelieu Bar, that offered tokens to patrons. His Dad, Arthur Eugene Tibbs, converted the token to a watch fob. After his service in the Marines he had gone to watch maker/ jewelry school, but moved from his birth place of Poplar Bluff, Mo. and went to work in the mines. He worked in the Ray Mine nearly 40 years, until it was shut down by Kennecott.
He served as a gate guard during his final days of employ before taking his retirement.
Dusty shared several other mementos with us. This first is a safety award. The text is " Safety Award, Ray Consolidated, Mining."
This badge has the words Ray and Kennecott and Security but the others are illegible. The central symbol's meaning is unknown.
KW Dart is on the front; Certified Operator is on the back-- of this watch fob earned by drivers of the huge ore haulers.
Dorothy is not from Ray but--
"Hi,
This panoramic photo was on its way to the trash can. I was helping a friend that was cleaning out an old shed. It was a dirty dusty job but I loved it! (Every historians dream to find an old shed full of great stuff)
Her mother in law had moved into a house in Clarkdale in 1916, lived there until she died, she had moved from Phoenix when her husband started working for the mining company in Jerome/Clarkdale. She brought with her, her Grandfather Sam's things, he was civil war veteran and a Tombstone gunsmith. He was there when they had the shoot out. Her father Philip was an amateur photographer who had live in various Arizona mining towns. So there were things dating back to 1850. He had saved his fathers things and added a lot of his own to be saved.The son died and his wife wanted to get rid of all the 'stuff' in the shed that had been sitting there since 1916.
I know the historical value of old papers and photos and wanted to be sure they were saved. I also know how much stuff is trashed by relatives "cleaning out". The panoramic is in bad shape. I did manage to steam it open and scan it and haven't touched it since. Some of the photos that we found are so great, it blew me away. About 80% of the things were old books.
So fast forward 2 years when I happened to watch a PBS story on Sonora and Ray and thought, I have pictures of Ray! Did a little research and could not find the panoramic shown, found your web site and here I am. Are you the Ray historian? I was born in Clarkdale in 1934 and love Arizona history.
It looks like the town was still being constructed. When would that have been? There are six photos that I haven't scanned yet. A couple are of mine equipment and the rest are landscapes. On one of the photos is written Ray 1920(?) Philip was so good at dating and identifying all the rest of the pictures, but he seems unsure of the date on the Ray photos.
I am delighted to be able to share that photo!
Dorothy"
June, referred to in the index, sent pictures and Ray HS Bearcats
This entry in for completeness--see Ken's page
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