Abandoned Towns
Inside Ruby's abandoned schoolhouse: a chalkboard wall, wooden floor and tall windows

Other mining and oil town · Silver mining town

Ruby

A border-country mining camp with two dozen buildings still standing, and a run of murders in 1920–22 that set off a manhunt said to be the largest in Southwest history.

31°27′40″N 111°14′15″W · 4,186 ft

Photo: Alan Stark, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Closed to the public

Ruby is private property. Public tours ran from 1994 until the owners closed the townsite on June 3, 2024. Parts of the town can be seen from Ruby Road and the surrounding national forest. Don't enter the property.

Overview

A company town that outlived its company

The townsite and tailings, 1990
The townsite and tailings, 1990 · Photo: PhilipC at Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Ruby sits in oak-dotted hills below Montana Peak, about seven miles north of the Mexican border. It began in 1877 as Montana Camp, a small gold and silver camp that never topped 50 people. In 1912 storekeeper Julius Andrews opened a post office in his store and named it for his wife, Lillie B. Ruby Andrews. The camp took the name too.

The boom came after 1926, when the Eagle-Picher Lead Company bought the Montana Mine. From 1934 to 1937 it was Arizona's leading producer of lead and zinc and its third-largest producer of silver. The company ran the mine around the clock, closing only on Christmas and the Fourth of July. It piped water 15 miles from the Santa Cruz Valley and built a proper town: diesel-generated electricity, a doctor and infirmary, company stores, a saloon and a three-teacher school for eight grades.

The ore ran out in 1940. The mill was moved to Sahuarita, the post office closed in May 1941, and Ruby emptied within the year. Because the land stayed in private hands, much of the town survived. More than two dozen buildings still stand, which puts Ruby alongside Vulture City as one of the two best-preserved mining ghost towns in Arizona.

Timeline

From Montana Camp to closed gate

  1. Spanish miners work placer gold near Montana Peak.
  2. Charles Poston and Henry Ehrenberg revive the old placers in Montana Gulch.
  3. First recorded claim on the Montana Mine. Montana Camp grows up at the foot of the peak.
  4. J. W. Bogan and partners strike high-grade silver ore assaying 80 to 90 ounces a ton.
  5. Storekeeper Julius Andrews opens a post office and names it Ruby, for his wife.
  6. Goldfield Consolidated leases the mine and begins the first large-scale operation.
  7. The Battle of Bear Valley is fought in the canyons near Ruby.
  8. The Ruby murders: two robberies at the store leave four dead, and two lawmen are killed after the trial.
  9. Eagle-Picher Lead Company buys the Montana Mine.
  10. Arizona's top lead and zinc producer and its third-largest silver producer.
  11. The ore runs out. The mill moves to Sahuarita.
  12. The post office closes and the town empties.
  13. The Ruby Mercantile collapses.
  14. The owners open the townsite for day visits.
  15. Ruby closes to the public.

1920–1922

The Ruby murders

On the evening of February 27, 1920, a ranch hand found the Ruby store's safe standing open. Inside lay the brothers who ran the store and post office, Alexander and John Fraser. Alexander was dead, shot in the back and the head. John had been shot through the eye and died without regaining consciousness. The town's only telephone had been torn from the wall. Two strangers had been seen eating apples in the ruins above the store that afternoon, but nobody was ever charged.

A year later Frank Pearson, a Texan, bought the store and moved in with his wife Myrtle, their four-year-old daughter Margaret, Myrtle's sister Elizabeth Purcell and Frank's sister Irene. On August 26, 1921, seven riders attacked the store. Frank and Myrtle were killed. Elizabeth was grazed by a bullet. She, Irene and Margaret survived.

Posses from four counties searched the border country, and lawmen chartered an Army plane from Nogales, reportedly the first airplane ever used in an Arizona manhunt.

Manuel Martinez was tracked down in 1922, partly through five gold teeth he had sold to a bartender in Sásabe, Sonora. He was convicted in May. In July, while Santa Cruz County Sheriff George White and Deputy L. A. Smith were driving Martinez and a second suspect, Placido Silvas, to the state prison at Florence, the prisoners beat both officers with a wrench and escaped near Continental. White died at the scene and Smith died later in hospital. Hundreds of volunteers joined the search. Six days later the pair were found hiding in the Tumacacori Mountains, after crossing about 70 miles of rough country in handcuffs they had partly filed through.

Martinez was hanged on August 10, 1923. Silvas was convicted after a third trial and sentenced to life. He walked away from a prison work ranch on December 3, 1928, and was never seen again.

What's left

Two dozen buildings and a mill pond

The jail, built in 1936
The jail, built in 1936 · Photo: The Old Pueblo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ruby's survivors include the schoolhouse, still with its chalkboards, the jail, the mine offices, a warehouse, the headframe, the infirmary and several houses. The Ruby Mercantile, where both robberies took place, stood until 1970. Two small lakes formed behind the mine's dams sit against the pale mill tailings, and an old cemetery lies beyond them.

From May to September, about 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost in the old shafts and pour out at dusk.

  • Schoolhouse
  • Jail (1936)
  • Mine offices
  • Warehouse
  • Headframe
  • Infirmary
  • Houses
  • Mill tailings and two lakes
  • Cemetery
USGS topographic map of Ruby showing the townsite, Montana Mine, ruins, tailings, dam and cemetery
USGS topographic map, 1981. The townsite, the Montana Mine, ruins, the tailings and the cemetery to the southeast.
Aerial view of the Ruby townsite with pale tailings and a dark pond to the right
Aerial imagery, USGS The National Map. The pale fan at right is the mill tailings; the dark water beside it is one of the mine lakes.

Map & directions

Getting there

Nogales is the closest city. From Tucson, the route through Arivaca is the classic approach. Both end on Ruby Road (Forest Road 39), a graded dirt road through Coronado National Forest. The townsite is closed, so treat this as a scenic drive past it.

USGS topographic map of the border country between Arivaca, Ruby and Nogales, with both routes drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Nogales32.2 miabout 1 h 46 min
  1. Take I-19 north from downtown Nogales.7 mi
  2. Take exit 12, Ruby Road, and turn left onto AZ 289. The paved road climbs west past the turnoff for Peña Blanca Lake.9.6 mi
  3. Where the pavement ends, continue on Ruby Road (Forest Road 39), graded dirt through Sycamore Canyon country.13.5 mi
  4. The private entrance road to the townsite leaves Ruby Road here. Stay on the public road.0.5 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Ruby Road is graded dirt. It's usually fine for a car in dry weather, but hard rain can make it impassable. Monsoon storms are most likely from July to September.
  • Don't rely on your phone's GPS alone. Download an offline map before you leave I-19.
  • There are no services on the dirt section. Fill up and carry water before you leave I-19 or Arivaca.
  • This is border country. Expect Border Patrol traffic and checkpoints on I-19 and Arivaca Road.
  • Hunters use the area in season. Wear something bright if you get out to walk.

Photos

Ruby in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Ruby?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Ruby": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, remains, post office dates).
  2. Wikipedia, "Ruby, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: founding, population, tours 1994–2024, coordinates and elevation (GNIS).
  3. Legends of America, "Mining and Murder in Ruby, Arizona": mining history, buildings, bats, the murders and manhunt.
  4. Arizona Highways, "Ruby, AZ 85621": editor's note on the June 2024 closure.
  5. Southern Arizona Guide: road surface, GPS and hunting-season notes.
  6. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked against the sources above on October 19, 2026.

Photo and map credits