On later trips, camps at Claremont, Cooney Canyon and Alma were
established. All were often attacked by Apaches--in one attack,
Sergeant James Cooney was killed. His camps were taken over by his
brother, Captain Michael Cooney. A camp at Mogollon was started
at the bottom of Silver Creek Canyon adding to those at Claremont,
Alma and Cooney Canyon. Mines developed at these camps--
Maude S., Deep Down, Little Fanney and Last Chance. By 1900 the population
of Mogollon was 2,000--there were fourteen saloons, seven
restaurants, five stores, two hotels and the usual brothels.
By 1915 payroll in Mogollon was between $50,000 and $75,000 monthly.
From Mogollon, gold and silver bullion began to be shipped regularly to
Silver City ninety miles away. In bad weather ore teams took ten days for
the trip. In favorable weather, fifteen miles was the day's average
because of the steep grades. The end of the haul at Silver City saw
300-pound bars of gold and silver stacked in front of the Silver City
National Bank and the return trip was made with loads of crude oil for
the diesel engines at Mogollon.