In California's Mojave Desert, Calico now appears as a quiet collection of weathered buildings surrounded by dry hills and open scrubland. Its setting gives little indication that the settlement once supported a busy mining community. That changed in 1881, when prospectors discovered silver in the mountains nearby and the area quickly attracted miners, traders, labourers and business owners. Within a few years, Calico had developed into a substantial frontier town, with hundreds of mines and a population that eventually reached about 3,000.
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