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Goldrush and Ghost Towns

All Art, Clothing & Writing Portraying Something Of Gold and Other Mining or Ghost Towns

Featured Work

Someone Took My Horse by photosbyflood

Bodie California, What a place when it was happening! Much of it had burnt down in the 1930s but what is left is quite something to see. This place is out in the middle of nowhwere 13 miles out on what used to be a dirt road. I have been comming out here since I was 15. The place has changed some. Back in the 60s there wasnt much to stop people from walking off with things. Today it is a state park and is protected by the state.Rangers actually live in some of the buildings. Yikes live ghosts. In the old days gunfights were a form of entertainment and it wasnt uncommon to have two or three a day. Kind of like east LA drive bys. Whats changed? /
"Mining with Aspens" by David Lee Thompson

Photo of an old mining building in the Red Mountain mining area of Colorado, USA.
All Aboard.... by Kristina K

This is the Geelong to Ballarat Coach at Sovereign Hill Ballarat Victoria Australia. / You can catch it for a ride around the town and take in the scenery. Public transport originated with the carrying of mails, at / first on horseback, and then by light carts. / As early as October 1851, a coach service ran from Melbourne to the Ballarat diggings. / The fare was twenty-five shillings ($2.50) each way, the equivalent of twenty-five hours of work. / Another way to reach Ballarat was to take the / steamer to Geelong and then the coach from there at a / cost of three pounds ($6), or sixty hours’ work. / Coach horses were changed at ten-mile (11 km) intervals and / the very early journeys involved at least one overnight stop. ..Soveriegn Hill transport notes taken on sony a200..18-70 lens / f/stop f/4.0 / ISO 200 / Focal length 55.0mm Edited in Photoshop Elements 6. / ( I removed the modern dressed people from the scene,) / / / / /
I'm Counting On You, Buddy by David McMahon

This shot of a genuine antique cash register was taken on the service counter of the famous Klondike Kate’s in Dawson City, in the Yukon in August 2008. The manager on duty readily agreed to let me shoot some images while we were eating there. I do not crop, enhance or post-edit my work in any way. Shot with a Pentax K100D, using a Sigma 18-125mm lens. F5.6, 1/45 sec, ISO 800, focal length 78mm. Featured in MOOD AND AMBIENCE, August 2009. Featured in NOSTALGIC ART & PHOTOGRAPHY, August 09. Featured in OLD THINGS, August 2009. Featured in THIS IS RELEVANT, August 2009. Featured in OBJECT STUDIES & CONCEPTS, August 2009. Featured by my co-host in PASSIONATE ABOUT VINTAGE, Aug 2009. Featured in NUMBERS ONE TO A TRILLION, August 2009. Featured in GOLDRUSH & GHOST TOWNS, October 2009. Canada08DawsonCity29Aug
On The Calder - Lonely in Wedderburn by Larry Davis

This is an old house in the town of Wedderburn. / Located on the Calder Hwy in rural Central Victoria, Wedderburn is a well known Gold Mining town with a lot of history. / Click here if you want to read about the History of Wedderburn. / One of a matching pair… / . / Taken with a p&s Panasonic Lumix FZ30, and x2 images for hdr ============== / Click on image to go to the original
Fresh Coffee by Arla M. Ruggles

When visiting the ghost town of old Cherry Creek, do stop by for some old-fashioned Western hospitality … / (2009.AUG.13) Inspired by the work of Susan Bergstrom Cherry Street Gallery – Cherry Creek, NV / RedBubble Album: Ghosts Of Old Cherry Creek Featured on / Goldrush and Ghost Towns / 2009.OCT.19 / Still Life Photography / 2009.AUG.21 / Postcard Style / (2009.AUG.14) Canon 350D EOS / Canon 18/55mm Corel PhotoImpact x3
Ghost Street by deahna

/ Featured in Goldrush and Ghost Towns St. Elmo is a ghost town Founded in 1880. Nearly 2,000 people settled in this town when mining for gold and silver became evident. The mining industry started to decline in the early 1920s, and in 1922 the train discontinued service. It is one of Colorado’s most preserved ghost towns.
Should These Guys Come Calling On YOU? by Lanis Rossi

Rhyolite Ghost Town, Nevada Located 4 miles west of the town of Beatty, Nevada near the East entrance to Death Valley, Rhyolite offers photographers, explorers and ghost town enthusiasts an enjoyable experience Photo taken with Nikon D80 Digital SLR & Nikkor 18-135 lens
Going Postal # 2 - Clunes Post Office , Victoria - The HDR Experience by Philip Johnson

BEST VIEWED LARGER Statement of Significance / The Clunes Post and Telegraph Office was built in 1879 to a design by the Public Works Department. The principal building was constructed by Messrs Lewis and Roberts at a cost of £4099 and the kitchen outbuildings were constructed by Charles Morgan & Co for an additional £279. The building replaced an earlier and smaller post office built in 1861. That the current building is so much bigger and grander than its predecessor is indicative of the township’s rapid expansion and peaking of population in the 1870s as a result of both the deep-lead mining and the coming of the railway in 1874. A scheme for the new post office was prepared in 1877 by the Public Works Department; probably by an assistant architect, Alfred Snow. Snow, along with his superior, William Wardell, and over 200 other public servants were dismissed on 9 January 1878 (“Black Wednesday”) and the plans were revised by new staff. The ultimate scheme similar in style to the first was prepared by George Watson under the supervision of Charles Barrett. The building is designed in an Italian Renaissance “palazzo” style, is of two storeys, and is constructed of rendered brick with a slate roof. The ground floor post and telegraph office is entered via a recessed arcaded loggia with the entrance to the post-master’s residence on the first floor via a lobby to the side of the building. The building is largely intact with the exception of its internal colour scheme and the interior lining of the kitchen wing. Of special interest is that the building may still be viewed in an urban setting very similar to that when it was built. The building is of significance as a well-executed and preserved example of public Renaissance Revival design, as an indication of the prosperity of the developed Clunes goldfields (the area of first gold strike in Victoria) and as a key element within the historic townscape of Clunes. Equipment: Nikon D300, Manfrotto Tripod Sigma 10-20mm lens / Technique: HDR, 5 Bracketted Images, Photomatix, Capture NX Going Postal: /
Alone by David DeWitt

An old man sitting at the doorway to one of the ghost town buildings at Shakespeare. Actually, he’s the owner of the present town. His wife always liked Shakespeare’s works and bought the old ghost town and named it Shakespeare. She has long died and her husband now oversees it . Taken on my Canon with a 28-300mm lens. this town is near the southwest border of New Mexico. This was FEATURED in the Goldrush and Ghost Towns Group Oct. 19,’09.
Gwalia by Nicole Lozowy

Gwalia found just out of Leonora, abandoned gold mining town in Western Australia
General Store by David DeWitt

this store is really in an old mining-ghost town. Some wealthy man has begun to rebuild it by buying up as much property as possible and fix it all up. this store is the first complete building. The bank is next after getting rid of the nests of rattlers all around and through it! Items are for sale here and most are just as they were on the shelves for museum pieces. Used my Canon XTi and Tamron 28-300mm lens. / The town is called Chloride in central New Mexico.

Recent Work

Lal Lal Old Bluestone Railway Water Tower & Tank by Kristina K

For FailingMemory Old bluestone water tower and tank. Lal Lal. / Victoria. Its National Trust Listed. / File: B2334. Level: Regional. / Railway Station and Water Tower. / Statement of Cultural Heritage Significance / Its typical of some of the finest bluestone railway stations in Victoria and of great importance in the history of transportation.
Lal Lal Iron Mine by Kristina K

For FailingMemory.. / Lal Lal is in the middle of the Gold fields, between Buninyong and Elaine, and my where i live.. / Victoria’s only attempt at mining and smelting iron ore took place at Lal Lal in the latter stages of the nineteenth century. In the mid 1870s, the Lal Lal Iron Company installed mining machinery, erected a large blast furnace and constructed a tramway to convey ore from the mine. For a brief time in the early 1880s, the Lal Lal Company had over 100 men engaged in mining and smelting the iron ore, gathering limestone (flux) and firewood, and manufacturing charcoal. The company also operated a foundry at Ballarat. The Lal Lal Iron Works had ceased operations by the end of the 1880s. The Lal Lal Iron Mine and Smelting Works is of historical, archaeological and scientific importance to the State of Victoria. The site is already listed on the Register of the National Estate. The Lal Lal Iron Mine and Smelting Works is historically and scientifically important as the site of the State’s only attempt to smelt iron ore with a blast furnace. The significance of the site is enhanced by the substantial remnants of the blast furnace being of its type surviving in the southern hemisphere. The Lal Lal Iron Mine and Smelting Works is scientifically important for its illustration of local adaptation of imported iron smelting technology. The design of the furnace, construction materials, and smelting technique used at the site harking back to 18th century European iron smelting technology. The site is archaeologically important for its potential to yield artefacts and evidence which will be able to provide significant information about the technological history of mining. Year Construction Started 1870 / info from Link /
Cuervo Especial by Arla M. Ruggles

Unstaged scene as found in a long-abandoned house. In my minds eye, I watch the last inhabitants of the old house raise a glass to toast times gone by and the future; gather the last of their personal belongings, and quietly close the door behind them. / (2009.FEB.21) / Cherry Creek, NV Featured on / The Thing / (2009.NOV.19) / POSTED: No Trespassing / (2009.OCT.23) / Abandoned Items / (2009.OCT.23) / Still Life Photography / (2009.OCT.22) / Country Bumpkin / (2009.OCT.21) / Image Writing />(2009.MAR) Canon 350D EOS] / Canon 18/55 mm Natural lighting from the doorway in another room / Built-in flash / ISO 800 / Handheld (with support of a door frame) JASC PaintShop Pro x7 and Corel PhotoImpact x3
1998 Site of Lal Lal Racecourse Railway Station by FailingMemory

In 1835 a government (Victoria had not then separated from New South Wales) exploration party led by Frederick D’Arcy found the Lal Lal falls on the west branch of the Moorabool river. The area was known to the local aborigines as Lal Lal = Running Water, and this name has remained. The falls were from this date on a favourite picnic spot. / This area seen here, is on the opposite side of the rail branch line put into the falls and was the site of an annual picnic race every New Years Day from 1860 to 1938. I do not know when the line was removed, but it would not have been used after the races ceased. Up to 20,000 people attended, and the branch line made the local Lal Lal railway station a centre of industry. Taken with a Pentax SLR camera on Kodachrome 200 film. 1/60 9.5
Cold and Lonely by Arla M. Ruggles

Mr. Campbell’s old car remains parked right where he left it, some 40 years ago. / Cherry Creek, Nevada / (2009.JAN.03) Featured on / Style! Class! Elegance! Excellence! / Nature’s Reclamation / (2009.APR.09) / Rural Around The Globe / (2009.MAR) / Old and Rusty / (2009.MAR) / Old Farts Of RedBubble / (2009.FEB) Second place in blind vote non-RedBubble competition: “Winter“ RedBubble Album: The Wheels We Were Canon 350D EOS / Tamron 55/200mm + Polarizer / JASC PaintShop Pro x7
Snow globe Christmas.. by Kristina K

This is one of three churches in Buninyong, Victoria Australia.. / Buninyong is the first inland town to discover gold.. / it lies between Ballarat and Geelong.. / I made these snow globes with help from photoshop..lol.. / enjoy.. / The photos in snow globe were taken by me.. /
What's Left of Shawnee, Wyoming by urmysunshine

abandoned schoolhouse in the ghost town of Shawnee, Wyoming / photo taken facing southwest at dusk, no post-editing of any kind thank you for viewing!
does anyone know this painting by phillip wise

This is not my creation but a project i am doing for some freinds and trying to identify this very old painting…by an artist called J.H.Schelteina / can anyone in the rb circle tell me something about the artist ?
Grant House Stage Station - Shakespeare, NM by Vicki Pelham

New Mexico ghost town of Shakespeare.
Return to earth by Ken McElroy

Mine equipment slowly returns its minerals to the earth it once disturbed in the New World Mining District, Cooke city area, Montana. Canon EOS-1D Mark II, Canon 17-40 L@ 35mm, 1/60, f/20, ISO 100. Processed on Adobe Lightroom 2.2.
Miner's Legacy #1 by Ken McElroy

Abandoned miner’s cabin in the “New World Mining District” in Montana’s Beartooth mountains only miles from the northeast corner of Yellowstone park. Fortunately, the federal government bought out mining rights several years back so no more depredation of this extroardinary landscape is likely. It is a valuable buffer to our treasured 1st national park. Canon EOS-1D Mark II, Canon 17-40 L@ 23mm, 1/60, f/16, ISO 100 / Processed on Adobe Lightroom 2.2.
Old Treasury Building, Melbourne by Graham Coward

The Old Treasury Building is regarded as one of the finest nineteenth century buildings in Australia. The building occupies a unique position in the history of Melbourne. Its origins lie in the 1850s Victorian Gold Rush, which brought great wealth to Melbourne, and its construction between 1858 and 1862 was symbolic of the rapid development of the city. The Old Treasury was designed by nineteen-year-old architect JJ Clark, and is a reflection of the vision that Melburnians of the 1850s gold rush era had for their future city. His design for the Treasury Building was in the renaissance revival style, derived from the Italian palazzo form popular in the nineteenth century. The three-storey rectangular building is elegantly proportioned, 200 feet across, 55 feet in depth and 70 feet tall, with three main entrances to the ground floor, and central section portico with upper story colonnaded arcade and elaborately detailed window pilasters and pediments. The exterior of the building is finished in Bacchus Marsh sandstone, its bluestone foundations were mined at Broadmeadows, and the floor above the barrel-vaulted basement is a metre thick. As well as being built to store the colony’s gold, the Treasury Building provided offices for the leaders of the young colony, including the Governor, the Premier, the Treasurer and the Auditor General. When the Treasurer and his officers moved to the State Government Offices at 2 Treasury Place in 1878, the building was renamed the ‘Old Treasury’. As the leading public building in Melbourne, located in a prominent position with open space around it, the Old Treasury has been the focus for many celebrations and major public events. The arrivals and departures of the Governors of Victoria were occasions for expressions of loyalty to the Crown and sometimes for political statements. The Old Treasury continues its unbroken history of governance in the affairs of the state. The Governor of Victoria continues to meet weekly with the Executive Council to sign off legislation in the magnificent Executive Council Chamber situated on the first floor. The Old Treasury Building was restored between 1992 and 1994, and is today ideally suited to house Melbourne’s City Museum, which opened in September 2005. City Museum

About This Group

I hope to form a community of people who may live in these areas
or have an interest in the fascinating History of the Gold Rush days. or Ghost Towns from Australia and other countries abroad.

The group would be for artwork, clothing portraying something of the many gold or Silver or other mining and or ghost towns in Australia and abroad and anything else relating to the Gold Rush era, including modern day theme parks of gold mining and ghost towns, and
maybe some images of some of the historical old buildings from that era,
also hope to get some interesting writings etc perhaps with some
historical content.

The image I have chosen as the group Avtar (which can be changed at a later time) is a compilation that I have put together to portray an area of Victoria Australia, which is known as the Golden Triangle the gold Nugget that is depicted here is called The Hand of Faith, which was 1 of the largest found near Wedderburn in Victoria which is one of the points of the triangle. This area was known for a large number of Gold Nuggets that have been discovered there through the years since the Gold Rush days.

See the group rules and join this group here