[4] In the 1870s, Sergeant James C. Cooney of Fort Bayard found a rich strand of gold in the Gila Mountains near the future site of Mogollon.

[5] A miner named John Eberle built the first cabin in Mogollon in 1889, after mines were developed in Silver Creek, which runs through the town.

That same year the town had five saloons, two restaurants, four merchandise stores, two hotels and several brothels located in two red light districts.

[9] By 1914 the mining district produced approximately $1.5 million of gold and silver, about 40% of New Mexico's precious metals for that year.

In their lifetime, over 18 million ounces of silver were taken from the mines of the Mogollon Mountains, which was one-quarter of New Mexico's total production.

A brief and minor resurgence occurred during World War II, as stagnant mines across the country began to produce needed minerals and precious metals to fuel the wartime manufacturing boom.

[11] In 1973, a Spaghetti Western called My Name is Nobody, starring Henry Fonda and Terence Hill, was filmed in Mogollon.

[13] By 2023 Canadian mineral exploration company Summa Silver acquired 7,730 acres of claims to the mining district in Mogollon.

[15][16] Today the town has several private homes and a few small businesses, including the Silver Creek Inn, which operates in a former boarding lodge called the Mogollon House built by Frank Lauderbaugh in 1885.