The Planchas de Plata

In 1736, sheets and balls of native silver, some weighing hundreds of pounds, were found lying on the ground near a ranch called Arizonac south of the present border, and the rush that followed helped hang the name Arizona on the whole territory. The Spanish crown seized the find as treasure rather than mine product, the diggings played out fast, and prospectors have combed both sides of the border country since for the vein that shed such slabs.