I could not find a recent thread on this subject. There are hundreds of abandoned mines, ghost towns etc. across the country and especially here in the west. Some you can drive right up to and some you need serious off road capability. I have many pictures of such places, taken with my bridge camera or phone, before I returned to the Pentax fold in December.
I will start this off with a picture I took with my new (to me) K-3 a couple of weeks ago.
It is an abandoned settlement and gas station in the Union Pass between Kingman & Bullhead city Arizona. It was homesteaded in 1897 by Jonathan Draper Richardson and his wife Victoria, on the site of an old army post. They ran this until their death in 1935 and 1940. The business was operated by their descendants until it was bypassed by the new highway 68 in the late nineteen eighties.
Post your pictures and stories here.

[Bruce Clark]

Disused blast furnace, in the hills near Geelong in Victoria. Low grade iron ore was mined locally and treated in this furnace using wood for fuel.

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[mkgd1]

Abandoned farmhouse near Rachel NV, note the giant bird nest over the porch. Appliances and furniture were left inside as if the owner just walked away. Not too far from area 51, Alien abduction?????

[mkgd1]

This is the open pit part of the Homestake gold mine in Lead, South Dakota. If you watched the TV series and or movie "Deadwood", this was the mine owned by George Hirst. It operated from 1876 up to 2002. It was also used by Sanford Labs in the underground part of the mine almost 7000 ft deep for neutrino research. In its like it produced over 43 million ounces of gold and over 9 million ounces of silver.

[mkgd1]

These modern day cave dwellings are at Dublin Gulch, near Shoshone CA. They were built in the nineteen twenties and last inhabited around 1970. Some have wooden floors, wood stoves and even garages.

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[mkgd1]

Tyro mine near Bullhead city AZ. Silver and gold were mined here until it was abandoned in 1943. Several tunnels in the mine as well as a 500' deep shaft and the surface workings in the picture.

[stevebrot]

Abandoned towns are not particularly rare in the wheat and cattle country of Eastern Washington. The photo below is of what was the schoolhouse for Goodnoe Hills. The town was first settled in the 1860s and from all appearances, the building below was used as a community center until fairly recently. In addition to the schoolhouse there is a good collection of farmhouses, outbuildings, and commercial structures, several in fairly good state of repair. Most of the buildings from the former town are on private property that is part of a working ranch. The area is generally well-fenced and clearly posted against trespassing with the owners living a short distance away.

Goodnoe Schoolhouse


Pentax K-3, Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.0 | C


Steve

[mkgd1]

Dugout at Inyo mine in Death Valley NP. Gold was discovered here in 1905 and shafts were sunk to 755 feet. It worked on and off until 1940.

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[mkgd1]

Not much left of the old railroad stop of Leeland Nevada on the Tonopah and Tidewater railroad. Founded in 1906 to service nearby mines. Abandoned in 1931, when the station and other facilities were burned down by Jack Behresin, who committed suicide afterwards.

[mkgd1]

Ibex Spring California, on the southern edge of Death Valley. A mining camp for copper and silver from 1881. Later as a camp for talc mines on and off until the nineteen sixties

[dwj130]

An abandoned church that served the needs of a slate mining community in north Wales, UK. Note that even the slats of the fencing are made of slate rather than wood.

[pichaser]

I could not find a recent thread on this subject. There are hundreds of abandoned mines, ghost towns etc. across the country and especially here in the west. Some you can drive right up to and some you need serious off road capability. I have many pictures of such places, taken with my bridge camera or phone, before I returned to the Pentax fold in December.
I will start this off with a picture I took with my new (to me) K-3 a couple of weeks ago.
It is an abandoned settlement and gas station in the Union Pass between Kingman & Bullhead city Arizona. It was homesteaded in 1897 by Jonathan Draper Richardson and his wife Victoria, on the site of an old army post. They ran this until their death in 1935 and 1940. The business was operated by their descendants until it was bypassed by the new highway 68 in the late nineteen eighties.
Post your pictures and stories here.

What a great series .My grandfather, his brothers, and many other family members worked in mines . I have visited many tunnels and drifts but never once had any desire to muck the diggings .

[mkgd1]

[mkgd1]

Lincoln Tungsten mine near Rachel NV. Operated by Union Carbide until 1988. Now abandoned. Miles of underground tunnels on multiple levels. Several fairly modern buildings. Rachel is nearest town to area 51.

[pichaser]

Lincoln Tungsten mine near Rachel NV. Operated by Union Carbide until 1988. Now abandoned. Miles of underground tunnels on multiple levels. Several fairly modern buildings. Rachel is nearest town to area 51.

!988 is a very new " diggins" but area 51 is an altogether creepy proximity to Tommyknockers and so forth . I am not at all curious .

[SSGGeezer]

!988 is a very new " diggins" but area 51 is an altogether creepy proximity to Tommyknockers and so forth . I am not at all curious .

If you wander too close you will meet some nice Air Force Security Policemen or policewomen. If you go over or through a fence before you meet them, you might not enjoy the experience, but outside the fence line you are ok and will just be told to leave and watched until you do.