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. Nestled below Montana Peak, rich minerals were discovered here by the Spaniards who came through in the 1700s. However, they were not rich enough for their tastes, so they performed only limited placer mining before moving on. The area remained undisturbed for nearly a century until two mining engineers, Charles Poston and Henry Ehrenberg, revived the old Spanish placers in Montana Gulch in 1854. Other prospectors followed, discovering rich veins of gold and silver, but mining remained limited primarily due to the hostile Apache inhabiting the area.
