Clarke felt that the town was so dangerous he insisted that his wife travel to California to give birth to their son, Dan. Like most other early mining camps, Ruby had its share of lawlessness, but for this camp, so near the Mexican border, attacks by the town’s hostile neighbors were widespread, so much so that store owner Philip Clarke and his wife, Gypsy, kept weapons in every room of their house and store. Clarke, who soon built a bigger and better one just up the hill, the remains of which still stand today. In 1914, Andrews sold the store to Philip C.
Most men relied on hunting to provide food for their families, but others would turn to cattle rustling. There were no businesses other than the general store, which was the only lifeline for the miners. Click for prints & products.ĭuring Ruby’s early days, camp life was unglamorous, and most of the miners lived in tents or adobe huts. Ruins of Ruby, Arizona Mercantile, Kathy Weiser. However, by the 1870s, new prospectors made several additional claims, and the fledgling settlement formed at the mountain base was called “Montana Camp.” Other lead, copper, and zinc veins were also found in the immediate vicinity, beckoning yet more miners to the fledgling settlement. Other prospectors followed, discovering rich veins of gold and silver, but mining remained limited primarily due to the hostile Apache inhabiting the area. The area remained undisturbed for nearly a century until two mining engineers by the names of Charles Poston and Henry Ehrenberg revived the old Spanish placers in Montana Gulch in 1854. However, not rich enough for their tastes, they performed only limited placer mining before moving on. Nestled below Montana Peak, rich minerals were first discovered here by the Spaniards who came through in the 1700s. In 2007, on our roundabout journey from Phoenix to Nogales, we took the road less traveled, exiting off of I-19 and eventually onto a dirt road adventure. Ruby, Arizona, is one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the state, filled with history, including lawlessness, murder, and mayhem, not to mention dozens of great photographic opportunities. Dust fly’s from the mine tailings at Ruby, AZ.