Once a lush, grassy cienega or wetland, this valley has attracted humans for at least a thousand years. Mining activity in the region began in 1804 with Spanish development of the Santa Rita del Cobre mine twelve miles to the east, and copper was delivered to Mexico City by mule train. Later, in the 1860s, explorers and territorial boundary surveyors noticed signs of other mineral deposits, triggering a gold rush in nearby Pinos Altos. A group of American soldiers-turned-entrepreneurs, including Richard Hudson and brothers John and James Bullard, decided to settle here, where rich soils supported a variety of crops and a little prospecting was rewarded. In 1779, early Spanish explorer Juan Antonio Garcia reported that La Cienega de San Vicente was a summer settlement for wood cutters, sheepherders, and Indian traders. In 1870, miners from across the continent poured in by the hundreds with news of a silver discovery in the hills near La Cienega de San Vicente. At first only a cluster of tents and crude shelters, the settlement was soon christened Silver City, and a community of merchants, builders, and investors sprang up to support the miners.