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Liberty Pit, Ruth, Nevada Opened in 1911 in Ruth, Nevada, the Liberty Pit is only one of many open pit copper mines in the United States. Run by the Kennecott Copper Corporation for most of its existence, the site brought success to the region for many years. However, in the 1980’s operations were closed due to “Uncle Kenny’s” inability to reach the Environmental Protection Agency standards. The aqua marine water that appears so pristine in Peter Goin’s photograph is sadly not a place anyone would want to take a dip. Besides creating enormous craters in the face of the eEarth, copper mining contaminates ground water, causes landslides and erosion, and leaves the land ultimately unusable. Perhaps even more intriguing than the environmental destruction of mining, is the profound impact it has on the people whose lives it sustains. All over the country, in places like Ruth, whole cities sprung up overnight as a result of mining operations. After years of relying on the mines, however, many of these towns disappeared in the same fashion when they were shut down. After the Liberty Pit and other Kennecott operations closed, 2,000 people immediately left the area, school enrollment dropped 34 percent , and the unemployment rate exceeded 20 percent. In the mid-1990’s BHP Copper, an Australian mining corporation reopened the mines, and provided a much needed economic boost. While the restoration of mining was beneficial to the people of Ruth for the time being, the Nevada landscape was once again be submitted to the devastating effects of mining. In June 1999, however, as a result of low copper and gold prices, BHP Copper laid off 452 area employees and left for good. Today the mines remain inactive as the people of Ruth once again struggle to define their lives beyond the mines.
Selected Bibliography “Mining in White Pine County. Nevada.” White Pine Historical and Archaeological Society, Weblink.
“Principal Copper Mines of the Robinson Mining District.” White Pine Historical and Archaeological Society,1996. Weblink.
“Ruth Area Mines/Liberty Pit.” The Center for Land Use Interpretation, Weblink.
Vogel, Ed. “Living Off the Land.” Las Vegas Review-Journal.26 December, 1997, 1D.
Liberty Pit, Ruth, Nevada Pictures in the Gallery 
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