Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of California - A History & Guide

Today, it is thoroughly revised, with much history and guide information. Throughout the book are rare and often unique illustrations and photographs.

From the Preface: If you want to find the essence of American character, study the people who made the Western mining frontier. For they left the restraints of society behind them and embarked on a desperate quest against the country's toughest natural obstacles. On such a background, the American spirit was painted in caricature--at its worst, and its best. More...

As for the towns themselves, many in this book are not ghostly, but are thriving localities included here because they are essential to the story, and have their own atmosphere and relics of yesteryear. Many of the ghost towns have in the past been prey to vandals and looters. Today, a more conservation-minded public tends to appreciate the charmed ruins and leaves them intact for others. The true ghost town buff follows the maxim, "Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints."