Batopilas () is a small town, and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, located along the Batopilas River at the bottom of the Batopilas canyon, part of the Copper Canyon. As of 2010, the town of Batopilas had a population of 1,220. Its elevation above sea level is . The town is situated in a narrow valley, bordered by steep canyon walls. The government of Mexico declared it a Pueblo Mágico on October 19, 2012. Batopilas was a prominent silver-mining center from the early 18th to the early 20th century. Etymology 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 is a mangled Spanish version of the indigenous word Bachotigori. History The Tarahumara Indians most likely had known of silver in the area for a long time before a Spanish explorer found silver by the Río Batopilas around 1632. The discovery was in the river itself, near the bank, and the silver ore was pure white and glistening. The mine was named the Nevada Mine because of the white ore color, Nevada meaning "snow-capped" in Spanish. The Spanish exploration party took specimens of the silver ore back to Mexico City and then shipped them to Spain. Very few local records exist from the period prior to 1845 due to two large fires that ravaged the area, the first one in 1740 and the second in 1845. Most of what is known comes from documents available in the Colonial Archives in Madrid. Spanish Period (1708-1821) 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. Over time, as more and more mines were discovered, the town grew both in size and importance. 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. Rivolta made a fortune in Batopilas, and wielded significant power in the area,