Ghost Towns & Mining Camps
Ballarat
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From 1897 to 1917 Ballarat served as a supply and recreation center for miners in the Panamint Mountains and Death
Valley. Ballarat springs, cemetery and remaining ruins of ...
Bodie
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Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Visitors can walk down the deserted streets
of a town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people. The town is named for ...
Calico Ghost Town
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Late in the 1800's Calico was busy with prospectors searching for its mineral riches. Silver was discovered here
and the Calico Mining District became one of the richest in the state. By 1881, Calico was ...
Caliente
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Railroad construction camp and shipping center for Walker Basin.
Cartago
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Landing and loading point for bullion from Cerro Gordo mines.
Cerro Gordo
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At its peak over 1,000 people lived here working in mines as the ...
Chloride Cliff
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In 1871, August Franklin killed a snake, looked down and found some rich looking float. ...
Cima
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Deserted town in the Mojave National Preserve
Cudahy
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The Old Dutch Cleanser mine and camp in the El Paso Mountains
Darwin
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1870's silver boom town
Dolomite
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Mining ghost town at north end of Owens Lake.
Dublin Gulch
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The caves in the soft hills of this wash were used as housing for ...
Garlock
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California historical site in the El Paso Mountains originally known as Cow Wells
Goldstone
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These days not even a shack remains standing, but gold was reportedly discovered at Goldstone as early as the 1880s. ...
Goler Gulch
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John Goler was one of the Lost '49ers who had seen gold in one of the canyons on his way ...
Goodsprings, Nevada
Harrisburg
Currently known as Aguereberry Camp - Home of Pete Aguereberry.Johannesburg
Small mining community off of highway 395 near RandsburgKeeler
Port and bullion production town for Cerro Gordo mines.Kelso
Little town just about in the dead center of the desert built to serve the railroad.Leadfield
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Leadfield's legacy is the road through Titus Canyon. A narrow, twisting canyon that ...
Llano
Community built, adequate water wasn't steady in supply.New Dale Ghost Town
About 1910 New Dale was built several miles south of Old Dale. Of course ...Nipton
Rail town and supply depot in the East MojaveOatman Arizona
Oatman is a former mining town in the Black Mountains of Mohave ...Old Dale Ghost Town
Over the years there were several towns named "Dale" in the district east of Twentynine PalmsProvidence
Boomtown of Providence near Mitchell Caverns in the Mojave PreserveRagtown
Ragtown, a ragged experience south of Ludlow.Randsburg
Yellow Aster Mine and Rand Mining DistrictRed Mountain
Near Randsburg & JohannesburgRhyolite
Large Nevada ghost town west of Beatty near Death ValleySearchlight
Mining Camp and Colorado River portShoshone
Southeast of Death ValleySkidoo
In January 1906, clouds rolled in over the top of the Panamints. The blinding fog kept ...Swansea
Owens Valley - North MojaveBaldwin
Old buildings at Lake Baldwin near Big Bear (deprecated)Route 66 Ghost Towns
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Ludlow -
Barstow -
Route 66
Not far from busy Interstate 40 is Ludlow, abandoned and forgotten
Goffs - Route 66
Essex - Route 66
Cadiz Summit - Route 66
Death Valley Ghost Towns
East Mojave Ghost Towns
---Gold Mines & Mills
About Ghost Towns
Desert ghost towns are ghost towns simply for one reason; money. If the money isn't there, there is no reason for people to stay. In the areas where resources such as water are available, contemporary communities have developed. In the Mojave, these population centers evolved from springs along trails and later roads, into transportation hubs, waystations and centers, sometimes obscurring or building over historical consequence.Old mining camps that have lost most of their population at some stage of their history, are sometimes included in the category, although they are active towns and cities today to various degrees. Shoshone and Randsburg are a good examples of this.
Some ghost towns such as Calico and Bodie are tourist attractions preserving architecture (more so Bodie). These towns exist in a protected state, with Calico, a nearly pure tourist attraction, makes money.
An attempt to declare an "Official Ghost Town" in California collapsed when the supporters of the town of Calico, in Southern California, and those of Bodie, in Northern California, could not come to an agreement as to which of their favorites was more deserving.
As a compromise, Calico is the official silver ghost town, while Bodie takes the gold ghost town designation.
Randsburg, a living ghost town
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