 After attending the University of Westphalia to become a mining engineer, Brunckow emigrated to the United States in 1850 and joined the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company, which eventually took him west.In 1858, Brunckow left the Sonora Company to develop his own San Pedro Silver Mine, which was located approximately eight miles southwest of what would become Tombstone, near the San Pedro River.Joining him were a chemist named John Moss, or Morse, a German cook named David Brontrager, and two miners named James and William M. Williams.