You had to be the hardy sort to survive in pre-climate-controlled Arizona. Scorching summer temperatures reach triple digits for months followed by, as this month reminds us, winter nights that dip well below freezing.

I can only imagine the fortitude of the 19th-century prospectors who, regardless of the weather, spent day after day coaxing this state’s rocky landscape to surrender its hidden caches of gold, silver and other ore.

Weary after each hard day’s work, how they must have looked forward to a robust supper, not only for the respite from their labors, but also for the much-needed restocking of their personal constitutions.

Such were my thoughts on a recent Saturday night as I drove up the dark Apache Trail to the Mining Camp Restaurant, about four miles northeast of the “town” portion of Apache Junction.

Opened in 1961 at the base of the Superstition Mountains, the Mining Camp is part restaurant, part historical museum. A long wood walkway extends from gravel parking lot to the front door, running uphill along the length of the building, which is constructed with rough-hewn ponderosa pine brought down from the Mogollon Rim.

Inside, the rustic lobby leads into a small gift shop filled with knickknacks ranging from humorous Arizona postcards to scorpions enclosed in glass paperweights. Here, also, is where you buy your meal ticket for the attached restaurant.

Steaks and burgers are available, but the real lure of the Mining Camp is an all-you-can-eat feast of chicken, ham and ribs, with lots of sides, all served family style. The cost is $18.95 per person, cheaper if you’re older than 59 or younger than 13.

Once you’ve chosen your meal, the hostess leads you into the low-ceiling, timber-framed dining room where the tools of a bygone era — cast-iron lanterns, gold pans, pickaxes — hang from the walls.

Diners share long, communal tables and long benches built with heavily varnished wood. Place settings include metal plates, metal glasses and metal coffee mugs. Dinners start with a basket of sourdough rolls and raisin bread (pictured above), wrapped in linen napkins and accompanied by whipped butter and a bottle of sweet prickly pear jelly.

One by one, the meal’s other dishes arrive: a heavy cauldron of barbecue beans, large bowls of green beans and slightly tart cole slaw, a plate of halved potatoes cooked to a thin layer of crispiness.

The centerpieces are platters of roasted chicken with stuffing and gravy and thick slices of ham covered with pineapple sauce (shown at right) and barbecue ribs (shown above) so tender that they fall apart as you try to move them to your plate.

Finally, for dessert, there are large oatmeal-raisin cookies. Beverage choices are limited to cold metal pitchers of lemonade, iced tea and water and hot metal pots of coffee.

The meal is by no means fancy, and, yes, there’s a bit of a kitsch factor at the Mining Camp. To an item, though, it’s surprisingly tasty fare, drawing a regular crowd of area residents and tourists alike.

And, just maybe, a modern-day prospector or two.

>> Mining Camp Restaurant, 6100 E. Mining Camp St., Apache Junction, is open 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. Sunday; closed June 1 through Oct. 31. (480) 982-3181.