Native people of the region, Tarahumara or Rarámuri Indians called the area Bachotigori, meaning "Place of the enclosed waters", as they described the canyon, and its abundance of tropical flora and fauna to the Spanish explorers travelling through this rough part of the Chihuahuan mountains.

Batopilas was officially founded in 1708 when Pedro de la Cruz filed a claim to a mine in the vicinity which he named the Guadalupe.

One of the most prominent structures, Hacienda San Miguel, was originally erected in the mid seventeenth century, some thirty feet above the Río Batopilas, opposite the town.

It was enlarged and rebuilt in the 1740s by Don Juan José de Rivolta, who turned it into a medieval-style castle, surrounded by guard towers and defensive walls.

Between 1790 and 1820, the mine produced over 30 million pesos worth of silver ore.[6] Following his death and the Wars of Independence (1810–1821), Batopilas fell into disrepair and continued deterioration until the second half of the nineteenth century.

His brother-in-law and executor, Guadalupe Ramírez, continued with the work for the next 5 years before selling the tunnel and mines of San Miguel to an American investor, John R. Robinson in 1861.

During his tenure as a manager of Batopilas Silver Manufacturing Co. Robinson manifested himself as a pragmatic, bent on profits businessman, and a good diplomat.

The town itself grew in size and attracted a mixed group of Mexicans, Americans, Tarahumara Indians, Africans, Chinese immigrants, all of whom came in search of work and better wages.

Mexico received no taxes or duties from this procedure, which eventually forced President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada in 1872 to require the company to ship all silver to a newly established mint in Chihuahua City.

[10] While improvements achieved during the tenure of John Robinson were rather modest, the town was able to get back on its feet, which didn't go unnoticed by the State government.

Senator Jerome B. Chaffee, Andros Boynton Stone, head of an engineering firm, and Benjamin P. Cheney, who provided banking, railroad, and political connections.

At the same time, they also retained, recruited or developed good relations with important figures of Mexican elite, such as Enrique Creel and Porfirio Díaz.

He modified labor relations, establishing capitalist hire for wages system, increased the number of guards at the Hacienda San Miguel and largely eliminated organized banditry around Batopilas.

Falling silver prices towards the end of the 19th century forced the company to invest in technology trying to maintain their profits, resulting in shrinking workforce.

Shepherd also reported annual labor costs of approximately $390 per worker to the government, but his personal notes indicated that they were only $75, more in line with similar mines in Sinaloa and Sonora.

Most miners rarely lived past 40, many of them succumbing to silicosis as the company never invested in safety, and the medical facilities were inadequate to provide more than just basic services.

The rise of nationalism in Mexico and dissatisfaction with widespread injustice and corruption of Porfirio Díaz administration finally resulted in the Mexican Revolution in 1910.

Pancho Villa and his lieutenants who controlled most of Northern Mexico made it practically impossible to safely transport silver anywhere from the mines which significantly curtailed the production.

[16] The mineral prices rebounded in the mid-1930s and during the World War 2, and while they had no noticeable effect on Batopilas, the nearby copper works at La Bufa were affected.

[17] After 1984 drug raids drove producers from the plains into the mountains, Batopilas along with other remote communities in the Sierra Tarahumara were overtaken by the cartels.

The mansion has long been in ruins with an exception of a hotel and a few shacks occupied by local families who give tours to visitors for a small fee (10 pesos as of 2017).

[citation needed] Lying approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Batopilas is Misión Ángel Custodio Satevó, built by Jesuits between 1760 and 1764.

[citation needed] Batopilas is the subject of an extended, discursive, but highly charged conversation between actors Marlon Brando and Alex Montoya in a pulqueria in the 1966 Hollywood movie The Appaloosa.