In 1875, Hugh Jones was the first prospector to strike ore in Bisbee. But, Jones wanted silver–not the copper he found–and soon left town. A couple of years later, Jack Dunn also found copper ore but he struck a deal to share his claim with a heavy drinker named George Warren who lost Dunn’s grubstake gambling in a saloon. Warren, unrepentant, found new partners and filed the claim anyway only to lose his share two years later when he wagered he could outrun a man on horseback. He died penniless.

In 1880, Judge DeWitt Bisbee and a group of inventors from San Francisco bought Warren’s claim, the Copper Queen Mine, just five years after Hugh Jones left town. Phelps Dodge Company came to town too and eventually merged with the Copper Queen. Bisbee’s days as a serious copper mining town had begun.