Mineral de Pozos

Mineral de Pozos began as a mining camp in the late 16th century, extracting silver, gold, and later cinnabar and mercury from the surrounding hills. Its greatest boom came around 1900 under President Porfirio Diaz, when the settlement, briefly renamed Ciudad Porfirio Diaz, grew to house tens of thousands of residents around dozens of active mines. Instability during the Mexican Revolution starting in 1910, combined with flooding of the mine shafts and falling ore prices, led to the town's rapid abandonment through the early 20th century, leaving it a virtual ghost town for decades. What remains today are roofless stone haciendas, crumbling mine-processing walls, and abandoned shaft entrances scattered across the arid landscape surrounding the still-inhabited town center, which has since been partially resettled by artisans and a small tourism economy. The Mina Cinco Senores, one of the former mining complexes, now offers guided descents into restored sections of the shaft system, giving visitors a direct look at the tunnel construction and ore-processing methods used during the boom years. Preservation efforts have been informal and gradual, with ruins largely left in their weathered state rather than reconstructed, which is part of the site's appeal as an authentic, unrestored mining ghost town. The site was designated a Pueblo Magico in 2012 in recognition of both its mining history and its stark, evocative desert-ruin landscape.