[1] It is located on the Colorado River 29 miles (47 km) south-southeast of Palo Verde,[3] at an elevation of 203 feet (62 m).

[5] The area became very active when prospector Jose Maria Mendivil discovered gold veins in the nearby hills in the early 1860s.

During Picacho's heyday Mendivil sold his claims and homesteaded a section of land along the river bank where he laid out the town, naming the streets after his daughters.

David Neahr, a Yuma Businessman, enlarged an earlier mill to ten stamps, successfully crushing ore from Medivil's Apache Claim.

Neahr expanded the operation and bought up additional claims but was forced into bankruptcy when his manager embezzled $7,000.

Declining ore quality and mill accidents ended most of the organized mining efforts by around 1910, and the filling of the lake behind Imperial Dam flooded what was left of the original townsite in 1938.