In 1883, a mining camp named Jerome was established on the side of an Arizona hill called Cleopatra. The United Verde Mine would produce over 1 billion dollars in copper, gold and silver over the next 70 years and the population would boom to well over 15,000. Feast to famine was to follow. By the late 1950s with the last of the mines closed, the population had dwindled to less than 50. Modern day Jerome with a population of 350 has made a rebound of sorts, becoming a tourist destination with many of the abandoned and refurbished buildings from its boom town days being converted to serve new purposes.
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