Mother Magma A Memoir of Underground Life in the San Manuel Copper Mine
This admirable book takes the reader inside the San Manuel Copper Mine in Arizona, to witness the
never-before told story of one of the most productive mines of the world. Be "lowered" into this
amazing world, and see the intense and admirable endeavor of a courageous group of men who live
and die inside the entrails of Mother Earth. Definitely a great piece of Arizona's history.
"They were good and decent men, these miners: ready to do the most precarious work and
at dangerous levels beneath the earth. They worked together and some died together. In
Tafoya’s eyes, they were heroes in the true sense of the word because of the sacrifices made
in the name of 'Mother Magma'.”
About the Author
Onofre “Taffy” Tafoya, was born during the Great Depression. The eldest of five
siblings, he enlisted in the US Navy at the young age of 15. He was stationed at the
submarine base at Pearl Harbor, where he was part of the relief crew on different
submarines until World War II ended. “I loved the Navy. I had never eaten so good
or dressed as warm,” Tafoya recollects. He was discharged at the age of 18, and
soon after he married and had six children, later adopting two more. He worked in a
Phoenix brickyard in the early 1950s, before discovering his true passion for the
“underground life” of mining, when he moved to San Manuel, an emerging mining
town, built to house the miners and their families. His commitment to mining, hard
work ethic, and love for the “best of people,” gives birth to a written testament—
Mother Magma. He currently resides in Mammoth, Arizona.
Title: Mother Magma, A Memoir of Underground Life in the San Manuel Copper Mine.
Author: Onofre Tafoya
Prologue: Chirstine Marine, Ph.D
Publisher: Hispanic Institute of Social Issues
Series: "Our History, Our Words."
Size: 8 1/2' x 11'
Pages: 162 (includes many photographs and diagrams)
ISBN: 0-9771167-6-X
Price: $ 24.95 (plus $3.00 s/h)
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