Silver City was founded in 1870 by Captain John Bullard upon the discovery of silver ore deposits at Chloride Flats near the Captain’s farm. A bustling tent city soon took hold on the former farmland to which the Captain have carved out several streets. The Captain would never live to see what was in story for Silver City’s future, he was killed less than a year later by an Apache raider; he is said to have been placed in the first grave dug in the town. And even though he spent only a short time there as a child, Silver City’s most famous resident is not other than William H. Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid. Bonney was arrested for petty theft in 1975 and placed in jail where he escaped by climbing the chimney; from that point on, he was more or less a fugitive. Other famous one time residents include Geronimo, Judge Roy Bean, “Dangerous” Dan Tucker, and the Hearst family.