Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-02-01
SOME SILENT CITIES.
STRANGE SIGHTS PRESENTED ny
DESERTED MINING CAMPS.
TOWNS ONCE RICH And FAMOUS
u,, Now without Inhabitants-rros-
perity That Depended Upon Mines
.,,,,.,s Gone 10 Waste I'm Build
t,ss and improvements.
pomona (Csal9 letter.

CO.. are several scores OF such towns
-. ....loraia. "a dozen in Idaho and Mon
.-. half dozen In Colorado. and as
...., ir New Mexico and Arizona. Some
.., .ne abandoned towns have had popu'a-
..... az l-ooo while many had more than
l.ecach. 4 large proportion Of these com
.....-.tI.s once had a fun complement Of
....-...ral officers and municipal depart
...t. and assessed valuations OF several
.....rs ot dollars. To-day, they are as
-u and deserted as Palmyra in the
. some towns that had 5000 and
,... .-opla during the early seventies are
by "a scant dozen people.
u. tho desolation Of an abandoned
, own impresses the stranger II
..- 10 o,d-t.me miner as nothing else
r.s lore OF camp-fircs and mining
-r. u every part of the mountainous
,.r .Uluuds in stories OF how the lie
.s miner OF that prospcctor was
. how some one else committed
and how another was overcome
,... lricf OWING 90 a visit 10 one of the
.....UInc. foIslkcn mining towns. few
fn.se relies ~ cities are along the
..t.s Of travel and their struggling
streets now grown over with sasebrush
and rank weeds and hankcd 10y cheap
,.oolen nruu.uls and cabins may be seen
fr,r, ff. car windows. but nearly all the
deserted GOWNS are away up in the noun
tain valleys and canons many miles from
fh. .tou paths of tourists. Some Of
rr... lc.Il towns are among the pine
forests Ot thc upper mountain sides,
Whom. 3D. stream Of water and the develop
m.ut ot q pocket Of gold-oIe caused the
sudden building Of a big village and the
.rf Va hp
..-. should Zoe found. These towns were
ra-1el on the mines They grew great
and prospcred while the mines paid. The
..-e came 90 an end and the miners and
. the attendant population moved else
where. and the relics OF the community
left
The CELEBRATION Of 4ining communities
l.s probably Been more general ln tHe
present generation en- Nevada ihan ln any
other State. Tho population OF tnat elal'
f.s decreased more than so per cent. ln
tac last two decades. In the eastern
1art ~ Nevada there were five towns
each of more than 900 people I'M 1876 that
have less than six Inhabitants lett now.
Then there were such flourishng camps
rs Eauings, MasOntoWn, Germany, fihe
~r., that have totally disappeared eN-
cent for a few dilapidated miners cabins
and lettering store buildings ana saloons
Jill Germany q hotel that cost $la0O Is
monument Of the days when every room
was occupied at s. head every night ana
rhe bar and gambling rooms doWn-slIlrs
,..1l.a "a ner revenue of 800 and S-oJ
weekly. In Southern Nevada about
twenty miles from Phoebe may be seen
rha remains of Emerson. VI was q Won
derfll little city in 1870 and lol, Wh-n
4bo cold and silver lodges were yielding
o~o worth from 500 90 $500 TOM Boston
canital poured into IL. At one time there
were $500 people In the place ana tHeE
came I'm four weeks. a brother Oh JoHl
Nforrissy. Of New York. was the no9s OF
The town. and DE paid 500 rent Il week 10
r,,n his games IN the only wooden Dulld-
g. iD Tho place. Stamp-mills. hotels.
saloons. and stores We're subsequently
1uuf iD Emerson. 10 would have become
"a town OF 1000 people but for the Won
Ierful mines at Virginia city. New. But
fha leGecs peterod out. The town melted
away. and not a human being has lived
thorc for ten years The houses nave
cracked. withcrcd and shrunk under the
heat of the alkah plain In summer ana
the snow and blasts of winter.
Then there was the famous mining city
a. Bodle. only q dozen isolated cabins,
the stone foundations Of great structures
and heaps of rustcd and worthless miu-
ing machinery remain 90 mark The site
Of what was the liveiiest mining town lh
America twenty years ago. Bodie was lh
Mono county. Cal. After tn collapse or
the C0mst0ck boom ia 1875 miners found
seven pockets of unusually rich free
milling ore high up on the eastern STOP
Of the Sierras. The ore was easily WORK
"a without water. and the cost of mining
81 was then the lowest known. Ihere
MAS "a STAMPEDE 90 Bodie from every part
rnrsa. ..r.. Of .rs 81 fr q De-
ftalfsts rushed thlther. believing 1t would
be- "a second Virginia city. The popula-
-.ou was 500 by March. 1880 The city
had a Mayor cOuncilmeu, marshals, anu
er other municipal officers. IT boosted or
f- Fire Department and its Inc schooi7.
-r.re of thousands of dollars went into
irulinrs. and. leaving ont Virginia CITY
Sacramento. and San Francisco. lAeie
were ass elaborate saloons DO Bone ~
anywhere on the coast some merchah'a
f-.ra carried stocks worth more IMAM
$4,000. The stamp-mills and the hol7llns
works were busy day and night for weeks
.- time. -Four dance halls ana seven
f-. hanks were run in BOdIe I'm the sum
r..~ Of 1854. Shootiugs occurred almost
fi.htIv and murders at least once d
week. one hundred and twenty gamblers
used 10 he the average In tAe town Ohe
fn.,l-koepcr made $4,000 IN one year. Inc
E.I.. mine. uaid enormously Tor "a Tune
I'll. Standard Gold Company IS said 10
h... paid aAc0O.00O in dividends i'm four
yo.l. and the Bodie Milling company
r..I about S5.0O000O 10 it's stockholders
f Same Of Bodie grew and the song
about the rOilicking "Bad man from
was sung everywhere I'M America
There laean 10 be hints i'm 1881 mat the
mines were petering OUT pul 'lI0
tH issues Of mining stock were hoa'eo'
lr -.5 the lodges did come 10 an emu
l.... was "a panic and stampede rom
f. THE losses Of the holders Oh sloDh
h" uodie mines were great III iil' .lS
Instances In 1ss7 there were only 100 peo-
...- amid the desolaton. and year
lat.-.. fgt six persons had gone. a hie
ir l. rveat away about all that was
'e'' 70 The former greatness or the niue
city,
Thirty r.are ago Pierce City, Idaho
vas as much in the mouths Of Americans
a. cripple Creek is to-day. fIe1-u, 4'0
Grants Secretary Of War. General BeiN-
nap. Invested thousands of dollars mere
Ni..-lr....elt schuyler COlfaX was CRUZ
'l -.r selling Pierce City stocks ID 'ot,
t The town began I'm 1862 when soiu
"". covered .l OIO Elmo creek. Wo
years had scarcely BASED after the dis
''f.'I when 5000 restless souls were
s".ih.nt along The creek. and the rich
Di-nts soon made orc Elmo one OF the
.n,us camps NJ the golden West. ADoul
t"'fD "Hs spent az Pierce city IN loo'- %
buildings and improvements. Elsh.
MINES were iu operation and the pay-Ioli
. 100 week TWO years later the
"ee basin electrified the mining world
'a is riches. and with its rise began