With the Mother-Ore Cinnabar strike in 1890, Terlingua became the world's quicksilver capital, yielding 40 percent of the nation's need by 1922. Its name came from nearby Terlingua Creek, meaning three tongues, a term coined by Mexican herders. Comanche, Shawnees, and Apaches lived on its upper reaches. Howard E. Perry's two-story mansion overlooked his Chisos Mining Company and the townsite, where 2,000 miners once used its jail, church, ice cream parlor, and theater. The mine flooded, mineral prices fell, and Terlingua died after World War II.