A Message From Lt. Ghost towns and historic mining towns abound in Nevada, giving visitors a glimpse of a glorious, colorful era of sudden gold and silver strikes and bustling communities that thrived as long as the riches lasted. Their names conjure up romantic images of miners who struck it rich, built mansions, and lived barons' lives, until mines played out and luck turned. Eureka, Goldfield, Rhyolite, Tonopah, and Virginia City are but a few of more than 575 towns, settlements, and camps that flourished in bygone days and remain today as historic attractions. Basically, it's people.
Ghost towns are silent, empty, and uninhabited, unless by a caretaker or two.
These skeletons of wood and stone are scattered about the vastness of the Silver State, the last survivors of Nevada's vibrant days of boom and bust. Historic mining towns are still inhabited, functioning communities, though smaller and quieter than during their heydays. But you'll find plenty of buildings, piles of tailings, headframes, and other genuine artifacts from the days when miners extracted precious ore from the desert landscape. Ghost towns and historic mining towns dot Nevada's scenic desert landscape from one end of the state to another. Nevada's dry climate, relatively mild winters, small population, and remoteness have helped to preserve these relics of boom 'n bust from disintegrating and disappearing altogether.