For decades after 1884, most of Silver City's fabulous mineral wealth came from Upper War Eagle Mountain, which rises a vertical mile above here. With lodes far richer than those found elsewhere, War Eagle miners fought a series of violent wars for control of valuable claims. Troops from Fort Boise finally had to intervene in one-armed clash in 1868. San Francisco bank failures ended production there in 1875 and thriving camps became ghost towns.