Gold fever hit the streams in Madera County in 1849, and Grub Gulch took its name from the belief that miners could always pan enough gold from the river to grubstake themselves into better times. The town developed after the Gambetta Mine opened in 1880, alongside other local mines including the Mammoth Mine, the Enterprise Mine, and the Josephine Mine. Local legend says its peak population reached 5,000. In its time it had two hotels, a rooming house, five saloons, a grocery store, and a general merchandise store, but never a church. Grub Gulch burned down in 1920.