Local legend attributes the discovery to the locator picking up a rock to throw at a jackrabbit and finding himself holding high grade silver. The Jackrabbit District, named for the mine, was located in 1876 by Isaac Newton Garrison. Early mine production of the camp, at one time named Royal City, was about ten tons per day, carrying native silver in flakes, yielding about $40 per ton - sometimes as high as $2000 per ton. Mineral production declined during the 1880's, but when a fifteen-mile narrow gauge railroad was opened in 1891 between the Jackrabbit mine and Pioche, mining soon increased. After 1893 the mines fell silent except for several short periods of activity in 1906-07 and 1912-14.

State Historical Marker No. 204
Nevada Sate Park System
Nevada Historical Society