Late in the 19th century, the east slope of the Santa Rita Mountains bustled with the activity of hundreds of miners. Gold had been discovered in 1874, in what became known as the Greaterville mining district. It proved to be the largest and richest placer deposit in southern Arizona.
Placer deposits consist of gold mixed with sand and gravel.
The miners quickly discovered that water was more precious than gold. In most placers, they could wash the sand and gravel with water to separate the gold, but the arroyos of the Santa Rita Mountains were dry. Miners hauled sacks of dirt to the few running streams, or packed water to their claims in canvas and goatskin bags, on the backs of burros. The rich deposits that could repay these efforts were worked out by 1886, and the miners gave up and moved on. No photographs of Kentucky Camp mining have been found.