The story
Ruby grew around the Montana Mine's lead, zinc, and silver near the Mexican border, peaking around 1,200 people in the mid-1930s when it was Santa Cruz County's biggest producer. Its early years were violent — the 'Ruby Murders' of 1920–21, in which storekeepers were killed in cross-border raids, led to one of the Southwest's last great manhunts.
The mine closed in 1940, the post office in 1941, and Ruby emptied almost intact. Under private ownership with caretakers, its schoolhouse (desks still ranked), jail, mine offices, and dozens of houses make it arguably the best-preserved true ghost town in Arizona — visitable with a permit, which also funds the preservation.
What remains today
About 25 structures: the schoolhouse and playground, jail, mercantile, mine plant, and lake-side camp, plus one of the state's larger bat colonies in the old workings.
Questions from the field
- Do you need permission to visit Ruby?
- Yes — it's private property with resident caretakers. Day permits (fee) are normally available and include the townsite and lakes; drones and artifact hunting are banned.
From the field
The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.
Stamp your passport
Check in at Ruby — GPS-verified visits earn an inked stamp.
File a field report
Road conditions, what's still standing, what's gone — your report joins the record.
Add photographs
Credited, dated, and preserved as part of Ruby's permanent record.
No field reports yet — sign in to file the first.
Sources consulted
- — Santa Cruz County records — Ruby / Montana Mine
- — Arizona historical accounts of the 1920–21 Ruby Murders
- — Site caretaker visiting policies