The Mammoth Mine was discovered around the same time as the settlement of Eureka in February 1870. Miners rushed in and began a boomtown. The area was remote and the environment harsh; no water was to be found nearby. The mines piped in water for industrial use, but residents had to buy drinking water for ten cents a gallon.
Mines in the area around Mammoth produced ore, silver, and gold. The Mammoth Mine was in production for around seventy-five years. Considered part of the Tintic Mining Distric, with other communities and mines in the area, the area around Mammoth played a vital role in the mining economy of the Utah Territory and later the State of Utah