At this location, Ragtown stood as a part of the once-booming "Buckeye Mining District". One mine in the district, the Bagdad-Chase, discovered by John Suter in the 1880s, was to become the largest single source of copper and gold in San Bernardino County. The owner, Benjamin Chase, built the
Ludlow and Southern Railroad, just west of here, to carry ore to the Santa Fe Railroad in Ludlow.