California Ghost Towns, Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures

EDITOR'S NOTE: Roger's zest for history is unmatched. We can reap the harvest of his labors thrice: this story, the tours he offers and the next Explorers' Dinner. Invite a friend!

Ghost towns are waypoints along history's backroads. Philip Varney, author of Southern California's Best Ghost Towns, defines a ghost town as "any site that has had a markedly decreased population from its peak, a town whose initial reason for settlement (such as a mine or railroad) no longer keeps people in the community." Varney divides ghost towns into three categories: completely deserted ghost towns like Beveridge or Masonic; towns with a minimal population like Bodie; Cerro Gordo and Darwin; and still-thriving towns like Columbia, Grass Valley, Julian and Randsburg.

The "ghosting" of one town may be part of the birth of another. In the 1890s, Garlock, formerly Cow Wells, was a thriving center of commerce and ore milling at the base of the El Paso Mountains in Kern County. The success of the newly discovered Yellow Aster mine in Randsburg was the beginning of the end for Garlock. At first, ore was carried downhill to Garlock for milling because there was little water near the mine. A few years later, after local water supplies were developed, the Yellow Aster built its own mill up the hill in Randsburg. Much of Garlock's population, along with its wooden buildings, eventually relocated in Randsburg.

When Manzanar Relocation Camp closed after the conclusion of World War II, its rows of buildings were dismantled and the wood sold for home construction. The stone guardhouses and the auditorium are the sole surviving structures today.

Most of California's explosive development can be attributed to the discovery of gold by James Marshall in 1848 on the American River. A year later, as word spread, thousands of would-be argonauts were on their way to the golden hills. Few made their fortunes at mining, but many stayed and diversified California's economic base from gold to agriculture.

History's backroads are not necessarily covered in dust and strewn with rocks and creosote bushes. Gold Rush era towns, many on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, remain viable population centers. Their economies are still based on mining. But today it's the tourists and not rocks that are mined. From Mariposa (near Yosemite) at the south, to Downieville and Sierra City at the north, California State Highway 49 is a paved link to 150 years of history accessible to all motorists.

Columbia, "the Gem of the Southern Mines," sits just off Highway 49 near Sonora in Tuolumne County. Never completely ghosted, Columbia is considered one of the best examples of a Gold Rush-era town. Since 1945, Columbia has been a California state park. Much of the town has been restored.

Credit for discovering Columbia's gold is given to Dr. Thaddeus Hildreth and his party, who found gold on March 27, 1850. That a group of Mexicans had been successfully mining nearby for some time was overlooked. The emerging mining camp acquired Hildreth's name. The camp grew into a town and prospered. Its name was changed to Columbia because it was said to have a "permanent sound." From tents and shanties, Columbia became a respectable town of red brick buildings. Millions of dollars of gold were recovered from her placer diggings.

Bodie, named for Waterman Body who discovered gold in the area in 1859, is part of the California State Park System. The town's buildings, representing only 5 per cent of the town's 1880 heyday, are kept in a state of "arrested decay." They won't be restored, but will be kept from further detieoration.
© Roger W. Vargo

Nearly due east of Columbia, across the granite wall of the Sierra Nevada, is the ghost town of Bodie. Like Columbia, Bodie is now a California state historic park. Unlike Columbia, Bodie reposes in an isolated geologic bowl in the Bodie Hills. There are no permanent residents except park employees. Bodie's surviving structures, representing about 10 percent of the actual town, are unrestored. The town's 8,000-foot elevation makes it easily accessible only during the late spring, summer and fall.

During its heyday in the early 1880s, Bodie was one of the most populous towns in California. It was also regarded as one of the most lawless. A young girl, learning that her family was moving to Bodie, wrote in her diary, "Good-bye, God, we're going to Bodie." Local boosters, not wanting their town's name further sullied, claimed the girl's diary entry was misquoted. What she really wrote, they said, was, "Good, by God, we're going to Bodie!"

Bodie is accessible during its snow-free months by ordinary passenger vehicles. The main road from Bridgeport is paved, except for the last mile. Most of the roads leading out of Bodie are best left to 4X4 travel, including the road across the Gieger Grade into Masonic.

Overshadowed by mining excitement in Aurora, Bodie, and Nevada's Comstock, gold discoveries near Masonic Mountain went untouched for forty years. Prospectors from Monoville made the original strikes in the summer of 1860. The discoverers were members of the Masonic Lodge.

In 1902 the Masonic Mining District gold deposits were rediscovered. By 1904, some 20 miners were at work on 10 claims. The same year saw the construction of the first cabin and the building of roads from Bridgeport and Bodie. Hopes were high that Masonic would be the next big strike. That was not to happen. The town was nearly deserted by 1911.

Today, Masonic quietly deteriorates on Inyo National Forest lands. Ruins of the Stall Bros. Mill dominate a hillside. A few rough-hewn cabins still hold their own against the onslaught of erosion and plant life. On the dirt road to Bridgeport, the skeleton of the Chemung Mill is a mute witness to the changes of time.

Some ghost towns are so remote and inaccessible their existence takes on a mythical nature. Beveridge is one such locale. Buried in the Inyo Mountains above Saline Valley, the town site is accessible only by foot trail. Ask about Beveridge when you are in the Lone Pine area and you will likely hear the story about "the guys from the Navy center who went in there a few years ago by helicopter and took out the piano."

A variety structures and mining equipment can be found at Cerro Gordo in Inyo County, CA. The wooden tressle in the background was used to load ore onto a cable tramway for transport off the mountain. Cerro Grodo, called "Southern California's best, true, ghost town," by author Philip Varney, is privately owned.
© Roger W. Vargo

Sometimes a serendipitous relationship exits between a ghost town and a modern city. Such is the case with Cerro Gordo, the "Fat Hill" silver mining city high in the Inyo Mountains of Owens Valley. "Cerro Gordo stands undisputedly as the Inyo County camp of greatest production," wrote historian W. A. Chalfant in The Story of Inyo. Credit for the silver discovery in 1865 is usually given to Pablo Flores and two other Mexicans. Some stories suggest mining activities long before Flores set foot on the mountain.

In any case, Cerro Gordo's major development took place in the early 1870s ramrodded by Mortimer Belshaw and Victor Beaudry. By 1872, the camp was producing 100 to 150 83-pound bars of silver- lead each day. These bars, called "loaves" because of their resemblance to loaves of bread, were shipped in huge wagons to the nearest ocean port city, which happened to be Los Angeles. At the port, the silver was loaded onto ships that carried it to San Francisco and other destinations for final refining.

The wagons did not return empty to Cerro Gordo. They carried all manners of necessities, from building materials to liquor and food to the camp of several thousand inhabitants. The commerce caused the little town of Los Angeles to grow. With growth came a thirst that could only be quenched by a steady supply of water.

L. A.'s thirst was temporarily quenched in 1913 when William Mulholland completed an aqueduct bringing Owens Valley water into Los Angeles. The project, all 233 miles of it, was built between 1908 and 1913. It is still considered a marvel of 20- century engineering.

The American Hotel, built in 1871, is the most recognizable structure at privately owned Cerro Gordo in Inyo County.

© Roger W. Vargo

Down canyon view looking into what remains of Cerro Gordo with Owens (dry) Lake in the distance. The townsite is situated at 8000-feet in the Inyo Mountains of California's Owens Valley.
© Roger W. Vargo

View of one of the mine buildings at Cerro Gordo.
© Roger W. Vargo

Today, Jody Stewart privately owns Cerro Gordo. A number of buildings, from various periods in the town's history, remain standing. As funds permit, Jody is performing preservation and restoration work on the structures, including the landmark American Hotel, built in 1871. Phil Varney calls Cerro Gordo "California's best, true, ghost town."

A town, ghosted or viable, is more than. a collection of buildings, machinery and roads. A town is a place where people live, and die. Cemeteries open a living gate to a town's past lives. It's fascinating to view old headstones and read names, places of birth, occupations and ages of the occupants. Some of my favorite final resting places are in Bodie, Columbia, Darwin and Forest City.

The final resting place of E. Miller, who died in 1883, in the cemetery at Forest City on the Western side of the Sierras.
© Roger W. Vargo

Italian-born Giuseppa Andrea Fontana, who died in 1884, rests in the cemetery at Coperopolus in California's Mother Lode area.
© Roger W. Vargo

The Darwin Cemetery is the final resting place of Nancy Williams who died in 1877. The town was an important silver mining area in the late 1800's, and a copper mining town in the 20th Century.
© Roger W. Vargo

I've run out of space, and haven't even mentioned Death Valley, the Panamints or the eastern Mojave areas. You'll have to find these backroad waypoints on your own.

Exploring ghost towns from backroads to blacktop is a fun way to learn firsthand about the history of California. Books on the subject are easy to come by. Here are a few to get you started:

Likes, Robert C, and Day, Glenn R. From This Mountain-Cerro Gordo, Chalfant Press. ISBN: 0-912494-15-8

I also will be presenting a slide show on ghost towns at our annual Explorers' Dinner at the Balboa Yacht Club, Thursday, Oct. 2, 1997. Hope to see you there with a friend.

Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures
P.O. Box 12137
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
voice: (949) 645-7733
fax: (949) 645-7738
email: info@eco4wd.com