Ghost Towns

[Owain Taggart]

I've held a fascination with ghost towns for quite some time. I just find them fascinating, as there are often interesting stories to go along with them explaining why the population disappeared, giving us clues into the area.

One such town not too far from me was a correctional facility. It opened in 1914 as an industrial farm community, far out in the country and isolated from the city, and only accessible by train. Here, inmates would be shipped to serve their penance. It was set up as a self-sufficient town, where the inmates worked different trades to supply the town, and even receiving an education. It seemed to work well, from the accounts that I've read, as the people who lived and worked there as support staff to operate the facility enjoyed the town. It had a public school, from Kindergarten to Grade 10, post office, barber shop, tailor shop and shoe repair. It also had a grocery store selling bread made by the inmates, meat from the farm and vegetables also produced by the inmates. Some items that the inmates made would also be shipped back to the city to supply stores. There was a working saw mill operated by the inmates, and as the town expanded, everything was built by the wood milled by them.

Some time in the early 70's, however, the government started getting different ideas into how prisons should be operated, and the town and the project was disbanded, but those who worked and lived there and set up families there had a reunion somewhat recently and reminisced about their unique town. Today, some of the buildings are still standing, and there are lots of people who use ATVs to explore the area. There's even a story of a group of friends who explored during a moonlit night, where a guy had fallen down an unseen manhole and nearly scared himself witless as the moonlight kept casting interesting shadows throughout the building he ended up in.

So, it's all very fascinating. There's enough material there to make for a great novel, and I'm thinking of using it for a future NaNoWriMo project.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I don't know where you live, but if you're ever in Southern California, you should plan an excursion over to the Salton Sea, where there are a bunch of deserted resorts and towns around the perimeter to explore. In the 20s-60s it was a major resort area until flooding and rising salinity caused a mass exodus. So in the middle of the desert you'll find an abandoned yacht club and wrecked boats, or whole post-apocalyptic looking neighborhoods.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-saltonsea.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea

Calico Ghost Town (and old silver mining town) is also a lot of fun.

http://cms.sbcounty.gov/parks/Parks/CalicoGhostTown.aspx

 

[Miss Chicken]

We have a few ghost towns in Tasmania.

On the west coast they are mainly old mining towns and couple of ports that used to export products from the mining. The biggest danger to these towns is the heavy rain that region gets.

Also in west and in central Tasmania there are a couple of old hydroelectricity town and a town or two that was flooded for hydro dams.

The two ghost towns on the eastern side of Tasmania that I can think of (Bobbyalla and Tyenna) have been ravished by bushfires and little remains of them now.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

My grandfather's death certificate lists his mother's birthplace as "Ruin City, Mich".

A prophetic name if there ever was one, I can't find any mention of it anywhere.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Could it be a mis-spelling and really be something like Rouen?

Edited to add - or Huron (which does exist in Michigan)?

 

[Owain Taggart]

I don't know where you live, but if you're ever in Southern California, you should plan an excursion over to the Salton Sea, where there are a bunch of deserted resorts and towns around the perimeter to explore. In the 20s-60s it was a major resort area until flooding and rising salinity caused a mass exodus. So in the middle of the desert you'll find an abandoned yacht club and wrecked boats, or whole post-apocalyptic looking neighborhoods.

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-saltonsea.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea

Calico Ghost Town (and old silver mining town) is also a lot of fun.

http://cms.sbcounty.gov/parks/Parks/CalicoGhostTown.aspx

Fascinating. I'd love to go and explore it one day. I've never been to California though. I live in Ontario, Canada, and there are quite a few ghost towns here. Another one close by me used to be a mining town, which ceased to exist in the 1980's, though the mine site still exists, and in fact is the site of a major neutrino observatory. You can still see some of the structures of some of the buildings and homes.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Could it be a mis-spelling and really be something like Rouen?

Edited to add - or Huron (which does exist in Michigan)?

Here's a close-up of the section in question. I highlighted some letters for comparison a while back.

His father's name was Levi (not Levy, but an understandable misspelling since it was probably said aloud to someone or mispronounced).

So "v" in orange, "a" in red, "n" from Canada in blue, "R" in green.

That leaves the letter in yellow being a "u" or another "a", but no record of a Rain City either.

The potential "u" is more open at the top than the "a" in the other 2 spots and identical to the "v".

 

[Miss Chicken]

As the informant is given as "Hospital records" it is possible that someone mistook the pronounciation of the place name when they received it. Maybe the patient said "Huron City" and it was written down as "Ruin City". If the patient left town as a young child he might have even got the name wrong. There is a place in in Michigan callled Huron in Michigan.

Wikipedia says (under the heading Huron Township)

• Huron City is an unincorporated community in the township on Pioneer and Huron City Roads near M-25 near the mouth of Willow Creek on Lake Huron at
  
  44°01′45″N 82°49′58″W.[3] It was formerly a lumber town, destroyed in the Port Huron Fire of 1871 and Thumb Fire of 1881, the town was rebuilt after each, but faded as the lumber industry died out. The post office was closed in 1905.[4]

It is very easy for such mistakes to be made. I have a branch in my family were the surname has been written as Holland, Ireland and Hyland by different registars, so it is quite possible for the same mistake to be made for a town if the registar doesn't personally know the town.

 

[Data Holmes]

Can someone buy one of these?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

As the informant is given as "Hospital records" it is possible that someone mistook the pronounciation of the place name when they received it. Maybe the patient said "Huron City" and it was written down as "Ruin City". If the patient left town as a young child he might have even got the name wrong. There is a place in in Michigan callled Huron in Michigan.

Wikipedia says (under the heading Huron Township)

• Huron City is an unincorporated community in the township on Pioneer and Huron City Roads near M-25 near the mouth of Willow Creek on Lake Huron at
  
  44°01′45″N 82°49′58″W.[3] It was formerly a lumber town, destroyed in the Port Huron Fire of 1871 and Thumb Fire of 1881, the town was rebuilt after each, but faded as the lumber industry died out. The post office was closed in 1905.[4]

It is very easy for such mistakes to be made. I have a branch in my family were the surname has been written as Holland, Ireland and Hyland by different registars, so it is quite possible for the same mistake to be made for a town if the registar doesn't personally know the town.

Anything's possible I guess. That seems more like simple transposition of the person's name and where they worked.

Can someone buy one of these?

One of what?

 

[Data Holmes]

Can someone buy one of these?

One of what?

A ghost town?

Does one have to pay for one, or can they simply lay claim to the place, roll into town and plant their flag so to speak.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It's not the 1800's any more The county or state would probably have "ownership" of a ghost town.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's not the 1800's any more The county or state would probably have "ownership" of a ghost town.

Exactly, plus the fact that it would have to be registered. In the case of the town I posted about, it's now owned by the department of defense as they had planned to use the area as a training grounds, but it never happened.

 

[M'Sharak]

Can someone buy one of these?

One of what?

A ghost town?

Does one have to pay for one, or can they simply lay claim to the place, roll into town and plant their flag so to speak.

You could have bought the town of Amboy, a while back, and there was a former company town up in Oregon which was for sale, not too long ago. Very few would just be up for grabs - either someone holds title or the town now stands on public land, which may or may not be for sale (or may not be legally accessible.)

 

[Australis]

Near where I grew up was the town of Hill End. Once a mining town, where the Holtermann Nugget was found (Google is your friend), which went from a thriving gold town ot double figures. Later, artists travelled up from Sydney to paint the ruins and put the place back on the map.

But the real interesting thing was it was a twin town to Tambaroora, and all you can see of it these days are a couple of chimneys, some foundations and a few fences, all overgrown with trees. It's really gone.

 

[Kail]

Check out Cleveland Ohio.

 

[FPAlpha]

I've just traveled through Croatia and Bosnia through many villages and there were quite a few abandoned buildings partly due to battle damage from the civil war a decade ago but also from rural migration. Young folk are leaving the villages for the cities to look for work and a more "interesting" life and lifestyle whereas the older generations slowly die out with no one to pick up the house and land they are on.

It's inevitable.. people will move to where life is happening and that sometimes leaves entire regions lifeless.

 

[Mary Ann]

For anyone with a LiveJournal account, there's a very interesting group called abandonedplaces (one word). Usually the places featured are single structures, but sometimes entire towns are photographed. Several of the regular members are professional photographers, and their work is stunning. A lot of historical background is also often included.

 

[M'Sharak]

For anyone with a LiveJournal account, there's a very interesting group called abandonedplaces (one word). Usually the places featured are single structures, but sometimes entire towns are photographed. Several of the regular members are professional photographers, and their work is stunning. A lot of historical background is also often included.

Just added it to my "watching" list.

 

[Mary Ann]

Glad to be of service.