Grafton was established as a mining town in 1878 and by 1883 had 75 houses and was an important camp in the Black Range or Apache Mining District. Grafton folks opened a school with 7 students in 1884.
But by 1892 the mines had petered out and only about 15 houses and 20 people remained. Turkey Creek flooded again in 1957 washing away most of the abandoned buildings left in Grafton, and now (1999) little remains.
One of Grafton's original buildings has survived, for in 1976, a one-room log cabin was moved from Grafton to Las Cruces in celebration of the nation's Bicentennial. This cabin dates from the 1880's when Grafton was a flourishing mining town in the Black Range.