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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

Texaco Barn, Nelson, Nevada by starvingartist

Old barn at the old mining ghost town of Nelson, Nevada, USA. Cross processed Velvia100, shot on Holga Toy Camera
Machinery of the Past by Vicki Pelham

On one of my trips to the ghost town of Lake Valley, New Mexico, this quite interesting piece of equipment caught my eye. I do not have a clue what it is but strongly believe this is so sort of mining equipment used in the towns hay-day, said to be 4000 residents in this mining town in the late 1800’s.
Echoes of Another Time by Vicki Pelham

The first school in Lake Valley, New Mexico
In the Shadow of the Past by Vicki Pelham

A portion of the old fence and post in front of what once was the Bella Hotel in Lake Valley, New Mexico.
Ballarat 6:30 by mspfoto

I couldn’t believe my luck when this little old car trundled down the street and stopped at the lights whilst I was trying to shoot the old buildings in central Ballarat. Kind of just helped set the whole scene. I am contemplating editing all the modern streetscape features out for a real old time looking shot. D300 / 18-200 VR
Silence by Vicki Pelham

This ghost town of Lake Valley, New Mexico was quite the mining town in its day. This photograph holds a real historic value to me now…. On a recent trip back to Lake Valley I discovered that high winds have now blown down the red building that was the Train Station, with people as Pat Garret, from our “Wild West” past, having made stops here.
The Dynamite Dome by JennyArmitage

This is another view of Central City’s Boot Hill. According to a gift shop owner in town, the odd brick dome was used to store dynamite. The storage dome was built in the graveyard because of the dangers of storing explosives in town. Nothing about the dome proclaims it’s purpose, and it would be an odd mausoleum so I’m glad the gift shop owner was chatty. Otherwise, we would have gone away wondering. She went on to tell us that the dome is on the Catholic side of the graveyard because the powers that be in the city were Protestant. The may be, but the Catholic side of the grave yard is both better tended and more populous than the Protestant side. Judging from the names on the stones, the Catholics in the 1800s were primarily Irish with a sprinkling of Slavs and Spanish miners. The other Boot Hill views I have have posted here have also been from the Catholic side. The monument I painted in Victorian Deadwood is from the Protestant side, but there are many more like it on the Catholic side. Transparent watercolor on cold-pressed paper. Original is 9×12 inches.
Writing

Relief fund for Typhoon victims in the Philippines…To all Bubblers, Weeks back devastating typhoons “Pepeng” & “Ondoy” rolled through my homeland of the Philippines with little mercy. ...
An old washing machine... by deahna

Thank you Ming for letting me know what this is. My husband and I took a tour of Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs, Colorado this summer and this was one of the items I shot inside the Castle’s kitchen. / “This castle was built by Jean Baptiste Francolon. / A Catholic priest born in Clermont, France, in 1854, Father Francolon was the son of an apparently wealthy and aristocratic family. His father was a diplomat and at one time was the French consul in what is now called Moscow. In the early 1890’s, Father Francolon suffered from some sort of abdominal complaint. As a result of this illness, in 1892 he was transferred to Manitou where he could avail himself of the many mineral waters in hope of restoring his health. Some time later, Father Francolon gifted his home to the Sisters of Mercy for use as the Montcalme Sanatarium. The priest was lauded for his unprecedented generosity and was referred to as the kind of man “who is a benefit to the community in which he lives.” He planned the Castle by describing to Angus Gillis, the contractor, the features he wanted in the building. It is thought that the unique architectural combinations used may have evolved from his childhood memories of living in different parts of the world with his diplomat father. He intended the structure to be a home he could share with his mother, Marie, and it was to be called Miramont, meaning “look at (or see) the mountain.” For the last century Miramont Castle has been the source of admiration and curiosity for all who have come into contact with it. Its history reflects the turbulence and diversity of the eras through which it has passed, with more than one controversial character adding his or her historical presence to the overall scene. It is built on four levels which cover a total of 14,000 square feet. Following the popular Victorian tradition of having rooms of unusual shapes, few of the 46 rooms have four square corners; one has eight sides and another has sixteen. The Castle boasts five fireplaces, the largest being sixteen feet wide and weighing 400,000 pounds. It runs almost eight feet back into the side of the mountain on which the Castle is built. The Castle featured running water and electricity when it was built. Electricity had become available in the late 1880’s when Angus Gillis built El Paso County’s first electrical generator in Manitou for Dr. Bell. An addition was made to the Castle sometime after its original completion in 1896, but no records have been located to confirm the date. This newer part of the structure was added to the east of the serving kitchen and includes the chapel, grand staircase and solarium areas.”
Headframe and Miner at Dawn by Mark Ingram

The beginning of a hot day brings out some stunning colours – taken at Cobar
Grass in the Window by JennyArmitage

Abandoned building wall in Central City, Colorado. Central City was a boom town during the Colorado gold-rush and is now a ghost town. Transparent watercolor on Arches cold-pressed 140lb paper. The original is approximately 10×14 inches.
1996 Ararat Shire Hall by FailingMemory

It was strange but there was no prominent date for the shire hall. It was probably built when gold mining was still an important part of the local industry, but not when it was strong or the building would have been bigger. It is now the centre of an agricultural area. / Shires are a lower level of government than the State government and are supposed to handle the local problems of town/country planning, local roads/streets, rubbish collection etc. Some of the shires were established in the early 1800’s and others were formed more recently by amalgamation of old shires. With the change from an agricultural country to a partial manufacturing one, the population of country areas has dropped dramatically. This meant that some shires had only hundreds of inhabitants spread over large areas and financial sources were not enough to sustain even the dirt roads. This roll of film had some of the worst colour I have had. / Taken with a Pentax camera on Kodachrome 200

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