Montezuma was first recorded in June 1850, when partners Solomon Miller and Peter K. Aurand, proprietors of the Montezuma Tent, were attacked and Aurand was killed by a group of Mexicans during the foreign miners tax excitement. Because of a lack of water, little mining took place until 1852, when a ditch and flume were completed to bring water for placer mining. Two kinds of mining followed: placer work on the flats and tunnels driven under Table Mountain. In the mid 1850s, the gravel yielded 3½¢ per pan, with returns of $5 to $10 per day, and in 1853 one placer nugget weighed 18 lbs 8 oz. By late 1852 the population was about 800. At its height, Montezuma City had four saloons, two hotels, Adams Express Co., a post office, a church, some homes, and many tents and cabins, before an incendiary fire that began in Clarks Hotel on June 29, 1866 nearly destroyed the town.