Ashcroft was a silver mining town, built on dreams of riches locked in the surrounding mountains.

Unlike gold, silver could not be panned from a river or found in nuggets on the ground; it had to be dug out of solid rock. Deposited in deep fissures or permeated into bedrock, silver was difficult and expensive to mine. The silver ore then had to be transported to a mill for processing. After sampling, assaying, crushing and refining, a miner with a ton of ore was lucky to receive 100 ounces of silver for his labors. The mill stone (#16) in front of the small saloon came from the Castle Creek Smelter two miles up the valley from Ashcroft, at the base of the road to Montezuma-Tam O’Shanter, Ashcroft’s largest Mine.