William Boehm the Ghost Town Hunter

01/17/2023

Something to keep in mind next time you call "shotgun!"

08/26/2022

03/11/2022

Deadwood South Dakota

02/09/2022

Photo of the Alturas Mine on Slate Creek (Plumas County, California) ca. 1890. The photo is captioned: "Showing the interesting method of operating the continuous-line carrier at the Alturas Mine with and impulse wheel, the used water supplying the pipe."

12/22/2021

Goldfield, Nevada is the West's most dramatic example of the boom and bust cycle. Following discoveries in 1902, Goldfield became Nevada's largest city by 1906. This city of 20,000 had a significant commercial district filled with modern buildings built of brick and stone.

Mining waned through the 1910s, and a devastating fire in 1923 burned 53 square blocks to the ground. While Goldfield never completely died, its status as Nevada's largest city and mining boom town were over.

https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/nevada/goldfield/

12/10/2021

Placer Miners at Auburn Ravine (Auburn, California) 1852

11/27/2021

"Heavy Freight Wagons of the American West"

https://westernmininghistory.com/4127/heavy-freight-wagons-of-the-american-west/

Freighting in the West was one of the most essential jobs, yet it is rarely talked about today. This article examines the men, wagons, and animals that provided this important service to frontier mining towns.

11/26/2021

Although travel by stagecoach is viewed with nostalgia and is a popular symbol of the Old West, reality for those that actually rode in them was much different:

https://westernmininghistory.com/1546/incredible-photos-of-travel-by-stagecoach-in-frontier-colorado/

"They were banged, beaten, and jolted, their heads were swollen and their faces bruised. Heads ached, nostrils were choked with sand, limbs were stiffened and bent with cramps.”