Spanish and American prospectors discovered gold, silver, and copper mines in southwestern New Mexico in the 1800s. This volume explores the further development of these mining operations into the early 1900s. During this time period, improvements in technology made mining profitable, and eastern corporations invested in New Mexico mines. World War I created a demand for copper, and this era saw the development of paternalistic company towns. Miners faced difficult and dangerous working conditions, but their lives improved compared to previous generations. Many of the towns and the people in southwestern New Mexico owed their livelihood, in whole or in part, to mining. Some of these places have disappeared entirely, some are ghost towns, and others are thriving communities.
Spanish and American prospectors discovered gold, silver, and copper mines in southwestern New Mexico in the 1800s. This volume explores the further development of these mining operations into the early 1900s. During this time period, improvements in technology made mining profitable, and eastern corporations invested in New Mexico mines. World War I created a demand for copper, and this era saw the development of paternalistic company towns. Miners faced difficult and dangerous working conditions, but their lives improved compared to previous generations. Many of the towns and the people in southwestern New Mexico owed their livelihood, in whole or in part, to mining. Some of these places have disappeared entirely, some are ghost towns, and others are thriving communities.
For centuries, the stunning panoramas of Arizona and New Mexico served as the backdrop for a veritable cavalcade of human history. From Anasazi cities built within towering canyon walls to early outpost villages of an expanding young nation, the Southwest served as the home to a range of communities that first thrived and ultimately demised in the region's rugged, sprawling landscapes. Today, the Southwest lures visitors with its majestic natural scenery and links to a fascinating chapter in our nation's history. In Ghost Towns of the Southwest, Jim Hinckley and Kerrick James present the colorful stories, colorful characters, and colorful landscapes that bring to life these landmarks of our past.
Abandoned New Mexico: Ghost Towns, Endangered Architecture, and Hidden History encompasses huge swathes of time and space. As rural populations decline and young people move to ever-larger cities, much of our past is left behind. Out on the plains or along now-quiet highways, changes in modes of livelihood and transportation have moved only in one direction. Stately homes and hand-built schools, churches and bars--these are not just the stuff of individual lives, but of an entire culture. New Mexico, among the least-dense states in the country, was crossed by both the Spanish and Route 66; the railroad stretched toward every hopeful mine and outlaws died in its arms. Its pueblos are among the oldest human habitations in the U.S., and the first atomic bomb was detonated nearly dead in its center. John Mulhouse spent almost a decade documenting the forgotten corners of a state like no other through his popular City of Dust project. From the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert to the snow-capped Moreno Valley, travel through John's words and pictures across the legendary Land of Enchantment.--Back cover.
Photographs and text describe some of New Mexico's ghost towns, providing information on their history, role in the state's development, why they have become ghost towns, and how some have been transformed.
This useful guidebook surveys more than eighty ghost towns, grouped by geographic area. First published in 1981 and now available only from the University of New Mexico Press, it has been praised in particular for its instructions on how to reach even the most obscure sites.
A Reprint of the Original US Geological Survey Bulletin 1348. This publication is a catalog of locations, geology, and production from the placer districts of New Mexico. Over 40 New Mexico Placer locations covered in this publication.
Promises of riches from gold, silver, copper and zinc ores attracted thousands of treasure seekers to the Land of Enchantment. Boomtowns blossomed across the rugged wilderness until the trifecta of the Silver Panic of 1893, World War I and the Great Depression collapsed the economy. Explore the vacant relics of once vibrant communities. Some are well preserved and others are but a whisper of their former selves, but all have a story to tell. From the lessons still scrawled across the chalkboards of the abandoned Cedarvale School to the forgotten talismans of the Turquoise Trail, accompany author Donna Blake Birchell on her trek through the ghost towns of New Mexico.
The ghost towns of Southern California-some dramatic and nearly intact, others devastated-are well worth visiting. Most are remnants of once-colorful mining towns, though there are also railroad towns, a World War II relocation center, a promoter's swindle, and a failed socialist colony. Some excellent attractions remain. One of the best-preserved stamp mills in the West is in Skidoo. Smelters, homes, stores, and the remarkable wooden American Hotel can be found in Cerro Gordo, which the author calls "California's best true ghost town." Seasoned back-roads traveler Philip Varney, who has visited nearly a hundred ghost towns in the area, provides a down-to-earth and helpful guide to more than sixty of the best in Southern California and nearby Inyo and Kern counties. He defines a ghost town as a town with a population markedly decreased from its peak, one whose initial reason for settlement no longer keeps people there. It can be completely deserted, have a resident or two, or retain genuine signs of vitality, but Varney has eliminated those towns he considers either too populated or too empty of significant remains. The sites are grouped in four chapters in Inyo County, Death Valley, the Mojave Desert and Kern River, and the regions surrounding Los Angeles and San Diego. Each chapter provides a map of the region, a ranking of sites as "major," "secondary," and "minor," information on road conditions, trip suggestions, and tips on the use of particular topographic maps for readers interested in more detailed exploration. Each entry includes directions to a town, a brief history of that town, and notes on its special points of interest. Current photographs provide a valuable record of the sometimes fragile sites. Southern California's Best Ghost Towns will be welcomed both by those who enjoy traveling off the beaten path and by those who enjoy the history of the American West.
