On April 6, 1881, S.C. Warden, Hues Thomas, and John C. King located claims on Calico Mountain and named it the Silver King Mine. Below it, the town of Calico grew from 100 people in the spring of 1882 to more than 1,200 at the peak of the rush. No fewer than 46 mines operated near Calico, including the Waterloo, Bismarck, Oriental, Garfield, and Burning Moscow. The falling price of silver shut down the mines by 1896 after they had produced between $13,000,000 and $20,000,000 worth of silver. Calico burned to the ground in the fall of 1883 and was rebuilt, but it was vacated in the 1930s. It remained derelict until 1950, when Walter Knott converted the ghost town into a tourist attraction. In 1883, postmaster Jim Stacy found a dog he named Dorsey, which became famous in a book, song, and movie after learning to carry the mail from Calico to Bismarck in bags on his back.
