Taking Over a Ghost Town

This piece from The New York Times offers a first hand look at life in a modern day mining ghost town from someone who is steadily buying up empty buildings.

1 minute read

November 2, 2010, 5:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg

The town itself remains nameless, but writer Antonya Nelson delves into its uniquely hermetic populous, and the process of buying land in the area.

"The woman from whom we bought our first parcels was not on speaking terms with at least six of her neighbors. The man who offered us some other lots thought a strong selling point was the fact that from a particular hillside, we could "pick off" the folks below. You have to imagine him mimicking the action of aiming a rifle to get the full effect.

An old Colorado mining town at 9,400 feet, it is a place that produced plenty of silver and other shiny booty back in the day, and even more toxic residue (it was a Superfund site not that long ago). It is isolated and incorporated, yet without a single business. "None of your business" might be the town motto."

FULL STORY: Living in a Ghost Town

Sunday, October 31, 2010 in The New York Times

History / Preservation Social / Demographics Colorado Ghost Towns Mining Abandoned Places View More

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