Back in the 19th century, if something valuable was found in the ground, and whole towns would build up around it. If you struck oil, people would flock to live in the area and try to find their fortune. The same was true of gold and silver, which is how this mining town was founded.
As you can tell from the images, this hastily-assembled mining town in Ontario, Canada, didn't really work out. There simply wasn't as much silver to be mined there as people originally hoped there might be.