Roddick and other claimholders formed the Helvetia Mining District, a ten square mile area on the western slope of the mountain.

In 1879, Roddick and James K. Brown, co-owners of the nearby Sahuarito Ranch,(from where the town of Sahuarita, derives its misspelled name) filed a mining claim called the Modoc, possibly the first one since the new district was formed.

This inactivity would last almost a decade before a revival of sorts would take place in the early 1890s, as demand grew for copper wire for new electrical products.

Paine Webber & Company, an eastern investment firm, started operating in the Helvetia Mining District, and in the early stages did a lot of testing of its land.

To get these individuals to and from, a wagon road from Helvetia to the Vail train station was constructed and the first stage line from the camp to Tucson was set up.

A narrow-gauge railroad, that in time reached more than 4 miles in length, was finished, which transported ore from the mines farther away from Helvetia, to the new smelter that was installed at the camp.

Helvetia would become Pima County’s biggest and most important mining camp around the turn of the twentieth century, a title that would be short lived.

The best-delineated deposit is the Rosemont,[5] which has a geological ore reserve of around 550 million tons at about 0.45% copper, with significant molybdenum and silver credits.

In addition Rosemont Copper was expected to produce more than 2,900 jobs annually for the state of Arizona and more than $19 billion in economic activity.

[6] Rosemont Copper's plan was being reviewed by numerous local, state, and federal authorities and would only be issued permits to operate once all environmental protections were in place.