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Post by dave on Sept 5, 2019 18:00:58 GMT -6
On our drive yesterday afternoon we went through five ghost towns from the gold mining days here. Three of them there is absolutely nothing left. The other two just have a ranch house or two. We stopped at Malhuer City. The town was founded in 1870. They basically moved a couple miles from Eldorado to this site to be closer to the Eldorado ditch. That was a 134 mile long hand dug ditch to bring water to this dry area so they could wash the gold out of the gravel. At one time Malhuer City had over 1,000 people living there. By 1900 it was down to 200. The ghost town burnt down in a range fire back in 1957. All that is left is some rock foundations and the cemetery. The cemetery is amazingly well cared for. Miles of two rut dirt road through the sage brush and you come to this site. There was a sprinkler going on the grass. The grass had been mowed. Lots of old headstones with just a name. Some ones that said "Baby Smith". One that read "Grandma Benson". To say this is the middle of nowhere is an understatement. There is nothing left of Malhuer City but the ghosts....... The last picture I turned my back to the cemetery gate and snapped a shot. You can see it is a long ways to anything.
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Ghost Town
Sept 5, 2019 18:31:51 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by M-5 on Sept 5, 2019 18:31:51 GMT -6
Very cool, our ghost towns here are not as intriguing. Maybe a limestone chimney from a turpintine still or a few corner stones mostly go unnoticed. The cemeteries are long gone too .
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Post by randy on Sept 6, 2019 4:20:38 GMT -6
Neat pictures Dave.
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Post by chuckie on Sept 6, 2019 9:48:03 GMT -6
It is always interesting to see old tomb stones. To see when they were born and what times must have been like for them. I remember seeing people get dressed up for a family photo and sitting in front of their house in wooden chairs. The kids would not have shoes on and the ground often was just dirt, no grass. Then to see how long they lived.
Most of the older tombstones in this area are etched so badly with a type of moss growing on the limestone markers. They just did not hold up that well. There was an old dog trot log house about a mile from me on a hill. There was a graveyard in a small woods and it had quite a few people buried in there. There were a lot of small children that did not make it. Some died at birth and then some were less than 3 years of age. It must have been really tough on children back then.
A farmer down the road had a graveyard on some land that he owned. He bulldozed it, and buried the markers. It makes me angry that he did that.
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Post by greybeard on Sept 6, 2019 11:25:21 GMT -6
In many of those old pictures, the people, especially the children had rather somber expressions on their faces. 'Somber' being kind...many looked absolutely miserable.
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Post by dave on Sept 6, 2019 16:59:59 GMT -6
A friend of mine was falling timber down near the mouth of the Columbia River. This was second growth. The old growth had been logged back around 1920. He went to fall a tree and noticed a head stone right by it. He put his saw down and scouted around and found 20 or 30 headstones. He went and told the timber company what he had found. They came out and marked off about a acre. They called it a wildlife area. They are required to leave a certain amount of timber as wildlife area. I guess this serves that purpose. There had been a sawmill and fish processing plant on the river not far from this spot a hundred years ago.
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