The historic Red Mountain Mining District grew rapidly after valuable columns of silver ore called "pipes" were discovered in this valley in the early 1880s and extraction began. By 1883, nearly forty mines were sending silver ore to smelters, and newspapers on the east coast and in Europe reported accounts of valuable ore coming out of the district, causing investors to line up to cash in on the region's wealth. During its twenty year heyday, over thirty million dollars in silver, lead, zinc, copper, and gold was extracted from this district, a value that in today's prices would be well over a quarter of a billion dollars.