Picacho

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Spaniards probably mined placer gold in the area as early as 1780. The area became very active when prospector Jose Maria Mendivil discovered gold veins in the nearby hills in the early 1860s. Mendivil laid out the townsite of Rio, which was soon renamed Picacho. The town had a population of 2,500, three stores, three elementary schools, numerous saloons, and was served by steamboats that connected the mining towns along the Colorado River. The gold mines closed by around 1910, and the filling of the lake behind Imperial dam flooded what was left of the town in 1938.