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Located at 9,305 feet in southwest Colorado, Silverton was a booming mining town in the late 19th Century. Today it depends on tourism, especially day trippers arriving on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
The water from Spring Creek flows from Lake Sambell along the normal creek path and then through a mining race built in 1856, then under Newtown Bridge continuing through the mining race till it drops over the falls into the Beechworth Gorge.
Silver City Ghost Town – located an hour southwest of Boise, Idaho - is one of several mining towns that sprang up in the Owyhee Mountains after gold was discovered nearby in 1863. At its height in the 1880’s, Silver City grew into a prominent Idaho settlement, with a population of around 2,500 and approximately 75 businesses. The town even established the first daily Idaho newspaper and telegraph office. As mines became depleted around 1890, residents slowly moved away from Silver City. The last mining operation closed around World War II, although the town was never completely abandoned.
In 1972, the Idaho Hotel in Silver City was restored and re-opened. Now, visitors can enjoy partially-restored historical buildings and old mine sites. Home and building owners have title to the land directly beneath the structures, but the rest of this National Historic District is public land, managed by the BLM.
Mogollon 'ghost' town, located in the wild mountains of southwest New Mexico, visited September 8, 2014. Much to my disappointment, it was much more 'town' than 'ghost', with only a handful of abandoned buildings but several houses and a few businesses, lots of people about getting things fixed up and prepared for the winter. The drive up this location was more interesting than the town itself, one-lane hairpin curves carved out of the hillside. Mogollon boasted a population of several thousand in the late nineteenth century and produced many millions of dollars in gold and silver, but as with all these mining towns, eventually fell victim to played out mines and changing economic fortunes, as well as multiple fires and floods (a creek runs through the middle of the main street).
A recent day trip we took out to Shay Gap which used to be an Iron Ore mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. This was the site of the old town before it was closed down and removed.
One of the most famous boomtowns in the old west, it virtually appeared overnight as a result of the Comstock Lode silver strike of 1859. During it's peak, it had a population of nearly 30,000.
The Crowsnest Pass, an area in S.W. Alberta and S.E. British Columbia,Canada recognised as a valuable archaeological zone and steeped in mining history. Communities of Coleman, Blairmore, Bellevue, Hillcrest, and Frank form the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, on the Alberta side.
I photographed this area in 2012, and while documenting the cemetery wasn't really paying attention to the dates carved into the headstones. Miners names and the year 1914 can be seen in the larger version of this collage.
From the "Discover Crowsnest Heritage" website:
Hillcrest, also known as Hillcrest Mines , is now a quiet hamlet at the west end of the Crowsnest Pass. Hillcrest was named after coal prospector and entrepreneur Charles Plummer Hill. The Hillcrest Coal and Coke Company, incorporated on January 31, 1905, began constructing the town the same year, and the Canadian Pacific Railway soon built a spur for transporting coal from the Hillcrest Mine, and a station. The town soon grew to a population of about 1,000.
Hillcrest Mine Disaster. Although the mine was successful, and considered one of the safest in the region, disaster was around the corner. On Friday June 19, 1914 an underground pocket of methane gas ignited, which set off a larger coal-dust explosion resulting in the worst mining accident in Canadian history and at the time the world’s third worst mine disaster. The explosion was so violent that it even destroyed part of the surface plant (photo). As well as damaging the mine infrastructure, this had a profound effect on the town of Hillcrest Mines. A total of 189 men were killed, about twenty percent of the town’s population and half of the mine’s total workforce, which left 130 women widowed and about 400 children fatherless. Most of the victims were buried in a mass grave at the Hillcrest Cemetery. Condolences came from across the country, including a message from King George V, but the commencement of World War I soon overshadowed this event.
Another explosion occurred in the Hillcrest Mine on September 19, 1926 when the mine was idle, killing two men. Explosions at other coal mines within the Crowsnest Pass also caused deaths: Coal Creek, 1902 (128 men killed); Michel, 1904 (7); Coleman, 1907 (3); Bellevue , 1910 (30); Michel, 1916 (12); Coal Creek, 1917 (34); Coleman, 1926 (10); Michel, 1938 (3).
After the mine closed in 1939, Hillcrest experienced a period of economic decline. In 1979 Hillcrest joined Bellevue, Frank, Blairmore, and Coleman in forming the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass.
A monument to the Hillcrest mine disaster and the lives lost has been placed at the Hillcrest cemetery. The surrounding stones list other Canadian mining disasters, dates and lives lost. In 1990, Canadian folk-singer James Keelaghan recorded Hillcrest Mine, one of his best-known songs.
Denver & Rio Grange Train Station (1882)
Located at 9,305 feet in southwest Colorado, Silverton was a booming mining town in the late 19th Century. Today it depends on tourism, especially day trippers arriving on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad Tourist Train
Located at an elevation of 10,152 feet, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States. Founded in 1877 as a silver mining town, Leadville was at one time the second largest city in Colorado, after Denver. Many of the historic mining era building still exist today.
Creede, Colorado; Main Street leads directly into the steep, narrow Willow Creek Canyon where most of the old silver mines are located.
Exterior of a yellow painted home, door and window with white trim. Taken in South Park Colorado, a ghost town
Located at 9,305 feet in southwest Colorado, Silverton was a booming mining town in the late 19th Century. Today it depends on tourism, especially day trippers arriving on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
More of Bodie, Ca.
This photo is one of my favorites from Bodie. I found it difficult to isolate subjects in Bodie. This rusted car in front of this home works.
This photo is part of a series of images captured during a road trip to the Eastern Sierra of California in October of 2011. Most images were captured along US-395, in Mono Lake, Bodie, June Lake Loop and some in Yosemite Valley, California.
Bodie is maintained by The California State Parks' System. Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survives. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once was a bustling area of activity. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Bodie is open all year, but the long, asphalt, gravel, and dirt road that leads to the town is usually closed in the winter due to heavy snowfall, so the majority of visitors to the park come during the summer months.
Bodie is known for being a "Ghost Town" in the sense that it is haunted by ghosts that have cursed the town. People have been known to take objects such as broken colored glass from Bodie and end up returning the objects to state park officials, usually accompanied with an apology letter to the ghosts and park officials. Also, in Bodie, the house that belonged to a man by the name of Jim Cain is haunted by his Chinese servant, who was rumored to be his mistress and ended up committing suicide. People have seen a woman's face in the second story window, heard music and noises from the bedroom, and even the smell of Italian food being cooked in the Cain house.
Bodie is spread out over many small and one large mine. This must have been miserable in the winter in the 1930s.
Virginia City was founded in 1863 when gold was discovered in Alder Gulch. By 1864 there were 10,000 people mining in the area. After the gold rush, the town quickly declined. Today, Virginia City is mostly a tourist town, with a year round population of around 200.
Silver City Ghost Town – located an hour southwest of Boise, Idaho - is one of several mining towns that sprang up in the Owyhee Mountains after gold was discovered nearby in 1863. At its height in the 1880’s, Silver City grew into a prominent Idaho settlement, with a population of around 2,500 and approximately 75 businesses. The town even established the first daily Idaho newspaper and telegraph office. As mines became depleted around 1890, residents slowly moved away from Silver City. The last mining operation closed around World War II, although the town was never completely abandoned.
In 1972, the Idaho Hotel in Silver City was restored and re-opened. Now, visitors can enjoy partially-restored historical buildings and old mine sites. Home and building owners have title to the land directly beneath the structures, but the rest of this National Historic District is public land, managed by the BLM.
Old service station downtown
The silver mining town of Pioche reached it's peak in the 1870's, when it had a population of about 6,000. Today around 1000 people live in town. It is a wonderful and historic frontier town to explore.
Corrugated iron miner's hut in the old gpld-mining town of Ravenswood.
Texture created by ground*floor.
A stroll around the CBD of the Western Australian gold mining town of Kalgoorlie. Due to the extreme summer heat, verandahs are very prominent throughout the area.
Title: Gate Leading to Works, Hacienda.
Creator: Bulmore, Robert R.; Winn, S.W.
Date: ca. 1885-1895
Part Of: Views of New Almaden
Place: New Almaden, Santa Clara County, California
Physical Description: 1 photographic print: part of 1 volume (44 photoengravings and 1 photomechanical print); 15 x 19 cm on 24 x 32 cm
File: ag1997_1144_09_opt.jpg
Rights: Please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University when using this file. A high-resolution version of this file may be obtained for a fee. For details see the sites.smu.edu/cul/degolyer/research/permissions/ web page. For other information, contact degolyer@smu.edu.
For more information and to view the image in high resolution, see: digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/wes/id/2610/rec/1
Jordan Block "Constructed in 1898, the building served as a Fire/Hose Hall, storing the apparatus until a new Fire Hall was built on First Ave. in 1900. In 1911, Mr. J. M. Jordan purchased the two buildings (on lots 1 and 2) and established the 'biggest furniture store in the interior of B.C'. This is the origin of the name, Jordan Block." (Taken from Heritage Walking Tour brochure.)
Rossland is a former mining town that was first platted in 1894. Located in the West Kootenay region of Southeast British Columbia, Rossland has a number of fine heritage buildings.
A particular silhouette of industrial and residential buildings intertwined with pathways dominated by intricate stairwells was conceived in the early 1900th. Sewell, named after the memory of Barton Sewell (1915), outstanding CEO who worked for Braden Copper Company, was home to thousands of miners who lived with their families with all the necessary accommodations which included at the time one of the most modern hospitals in Latin-America, schools, movie theatre, gymnasium, social clubs, convenience stores, etc. The dramatic cone shape like cityscape surrounded by the Andes Mountains reached its peak in 1960 with a population of 15.000. Today declared national monument, became the historical portrait of the largest underground mine in the world.
Its underground immediacy which comprises a complex mace of 3.000 kilometres of tunnels is currently operated by what appears to be a city within a city. Ample spaces destined for various forms of vertical and transversal transportation fed by giant turbine air shafts create a world which appears to exist independently to the outside world. Many generations have worked here, where family ties have become common knowledge amongst the specialized miners who take pride in there family traditions. Considering the hazardous nature of underground mines, work safety is unison behaviour where internal communication has derived into a slang of sorts. Full equipped mining personnel coming and going where casual conversation usually takes place at the various “cage” (elevator) stations, the same way one may encounter an acquaintance at a downtown pedestrian boulevard. In some cases conversation will be interrupted by the headlights of a 15 Ton front-end loader which becomes integrated to the track marks of the cage. Every movement is carried on with an uninterrupted rhythm, as daily life follows its natural course.
The general composition is framed by an obsolete conveyer belt steel bridge insinuating the multiple layers of mining activity. Far in the background is Sewell guarded by contemporary miners who emerge from the underground mine. The fragmented transversal view of the mine illustrates the fragile balance between man and machine contrived by solid rock tunnels. The permanent harshness of the environment brings forward a sense of tranquillity and ease in the poise of everyday duty. Gradually the image moves downward into the so called “productive areas” where heavy equipment is implemented in the extraction of mineral. A dynamic view of a front-end loader is recognized divided by an imaginary shaft which leads into a gyratory primary crusher.
Coober Pedy is a town in the arid interior of South Australia. It has developed a unique culture and appearance. Dominated by the earthworks of opal mining, many homes and businesses are underground to escape the extreme heat. The town is fiiled with unusual collections of mining history, junk, and props and sets from old movies.