Ghost Towns in California
Daisy Mariposa, a travel agent for several years, has occupational certificates in Travel Management and International Business.
Bodie, California was photographed by Jon Sullivan on September 6, 2004. This ghost town is located in Mono County.
What is a ghost town?
There are many resources online and many printed texts which explain what a ghost town is. In the context of this article, I consider a ghost town—many of which are located in the western part of the United States— to be a town which was once thriving due to its natural resources, but which is now deserted—or nearly deserted—because those resources have been depleted. In the case of California, the resources were gold, silver, and oil.
In this article, you'll view photographs and learn the history of some of these California ghost towns.
How many ghost towns are there in California?
There are more than 150 ghost towns in the state. Some towns have been reduced to being just a sign, as in the case of North Bloomfield (formerly Humbug) in Nevada County. Some towns are disintegrating, sinking into San Francisco Bay, and being allowed to die, as in the case of Drawbridge in Alameda County.
Bodie in Mono County has been designated the Official State Gold Rush Ghost Town and Calico in San Bernardino County has been designated the Official State Silver Rush Ghost Town.
Justin Smith took this photograph on October 8, 2008 of the area where North Bloomfield was located. The town was formerly called Humbug.
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons
| COUNTY | GHOST TOWNS |
|---|---|
Alameda | Drawbridge |
Amador | Drytown |
Butte | Cherokee, Hamilton |
Calaveras | Antelope House, Balaklava Hill, Blue Mountain, Brownsville, Buckeye Hill, Camanche, Camp Spirito, Carson Hill, Chichi, El Dorado Bar, Fremont Valley, Greasertown, Hodson, Independence Flat, Lower Calaveritas, Mammoth Cave, McLeans Bar, McLeans Ferry, Melones, Mill Valley, North American House, Norval, Oregon Bar, Pattees Ranch, Sandy Bar, Spanish Bar, Stony Bar, Stoutenburg, Taylors Bar, Tremont House, Yaqui Camp |
Contra Costa | Nortonville, Port Chicago |
Imperial | Picacho, Tumco |
Inyo | Ballarat, Bend City, Cerro Gordo, Chloride City, Chrysopolis, Coso, Darwin, Dunmovin, Greenwater, Haiwee, Kearsarge, Keeler, Leadfield, Lookout City, Owensville, Panamint City, San Carlos, Skidoo, Swansea, White Mountain City, Zurich |
Kern | Freeman Junction, Garlock, Goler Heights, Hatfields Camp, Lee Camp, Randsburg |
Kings | Kingston |
Los Angeles | Eldoradoville, Llano Del Rio, Mentryville |
Madera | Grub Gulch |
Marin | Dogtown |
Mariposa | Agua Fria, Indian Gulch, Mount Ophir |
Merced | Merced Falls |
Mono | Bennettville, Benton, Bodie, Dechambeau Ranch, Halfway Camp, Mammoth City, Masonic |
Monterey | Manchester |
Nevada | North Bloomfield, You Bet |
Placer | Deadwod, Iowa Hill, Westville |
Plumas | Seneca |
Riverside | Eagle Mountain, Midland, Temescal, Terra Cotta |
San Benito | New Idria |
San Bernardino | Agua Mensa, Amboy, Atolia, Bagdad, Calico, Chambless, Essex, Goffs, Hart, Kelso, Ludlow, Providence, Red Mountain, Rice, Rincon (Prado), Siberia, Silver Lake, Trona, Valley Wells, Vanderbilt |
San Joaquin | Banta, Carnegie, San Joaquin City |
San Mateo | Purissima |
Santa Clara | Alma, Coyota, Holy City, Lexington, New Almaden, Patchen, Wrights |
Shasta | Shasta |
Sierra | Gibsonville, Port Wine, St. Louis |
Siskiyou | Bestville, Guillion Bar, Negro Flat |
Sonoma | Wingo |
Trinity | Denny |
Tuolumne | Chinese Camp |
Yolo | Wycoff |
Yuba | Timbuctoo |