Ruby, Arizona

File:Ruby School.jpg

File:RubyAZ 2007.jpg

File:Ruby AZ topo.jpg

Mining started circa 1877. The Montana Mine produced gold, silver, lead, zinc and copper. At its peak in the mid-1930s, Ruby had a population of about 1,200.

On April 11, 1912 the mining camp's general store owner Julius Andrews established the post office. Andrews named the post office "Ruby", after his wife, Lille B. Ruby Andrews, and the mining camp soon became known as Ruby. The post office was discontinued on May 31, 1941.Granger, Byrd H. (1970) Arizona Place Names, pp. 323-324, Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, {{ISBN|0-8165-0009-6}}

Between 1920 and 1922, the town of Ruby and the surroundings were the scene of three double homicides known as the Ruby Murders, which led to the largest manhunt in the history of the Southwest, which included the first airplane ever used in an Arizona manhunt.{{cite web |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-ruby.html |title=Ruby, Arizona - A Ghost Town Filled With Mining and Murder |publisher=Legends of America}}{{Cite book |last=Sherman |first=James |title=Ghost towns of Arizona |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1969 |isbn=0-8061-0843-6 |location=US |pages=131 |language=En}}

The most prosperous period for Ruby was in the late 1920s and 1930s, when the Eagle-Picher Mining Company operated the mine and upgraded the camp. From 1934 to 1937, the Montana mine was the leading lead and zinc producer in Arizona. In 1936, it was third in silver production. The mine closed in 1940, and by the end of 1941 Ruby was abandoned.Philip Varney, 1994, Arizona ghost towns and mining camps. Arizona Highways books, {{ISBN|0-916179-44-3}}

Ruby is one of the two best-preserved mining ghost towns in Arizona, along with the Vulture Mine near Wickenburg. Ruby's attractions today include approximately 25 buildings under roof, including the jail and houses, the school, the playground, mine machinery, buildings and mine workings. Ruby is entirely on private property and there is no public access to the site.

Ruby is currently located on private property. Public tours were offered for 30 years until being closed to the public on June 3, 2024.{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.rubyaz.com/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=RUBY, ARIZONA |language=en}}

• Bear Valley Raid
• Battle of Bear Valley
• List of ghost towns in Arizona

{{reflist}}

• Ring, Al, et al.(2005) [http://www.ringbrothershistory.com/ruby.htm Ruby, Arizona: Mining, Mayhem, and Murder]. Tucson: U.S. Press and Graphics, 2005.
• Dolan, Samuel K. [https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442246690/Cowboys-and-Gangsters-Stories-of-an-Untamed-Southwest Cowboys and Gangsters: Stories of an Untamed Southwest (TwoDot Books, 2016)] {{ISBN|9781442246690}}

{{Commons}}

{{wikivoyage|Ghost towns}}

• [http://rubyaz.com/ Historic Ghost Town of Ruby, AZ]
• [https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-ruby/ Mining and Murder in Ruby, Arizona]
• [http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/ruby.html Ruby] at GhostTowns.com
• [http://www.azghosttowns.com/towns/ruby.html Ruby] – Ghost Town of the Month at azghosttowns.com

{{Santa Cruz County, Arizona}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Ghost towns in Arizona

Category:Mining communities in Arizona

Category:Populated places in Santa Cruz County, Arizona

Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Santa Cruz County, Arizona

Category:Tourist attractions in Santa Cruz County, Arizona

Category:Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona