What it was like back then: Dodge City served as a railhead for longhorns coming up from Texasto be put on a trail and shipped west. 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If you’d prefer something a little less morbid, there are plenty of period museums like the Days of 76 Museum and the Adams Museum. Saccharine hits from the 1950s and ’60s fill the dry desert air, providing a disconcerting soundtrack for an exploration of the once-bustling stop. Wild West in Los Angeles . You can still visit the O.K. Like many towns that boomed during the late 1800s, Oatman rose to prominence as a gold mining town. Sounded like a real roller coaster ride. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. “They would just look at him. Then get your kicks off Route 66 (now the National Heritage Trail) in the ghostly midcentury modern nightmare known as Amboy. They’re easy to drive to, fascinating to explore, and may leave you thinking about which one you’d like to live in, and which one you’d like to haunt. Enjoy this online game wherever you go. There is a vacant, sunbaked house, with an overturned chair, peeling paint, and wallpaper that makes the walls look like a Rothko. It was truncated during the 1964 renumbering and its signage removed in 1974. The rudimentary depot first opened in 1905 to aid Union Pacific trains chugging across the desert to and from Las Vegas. What it's like now: Dodge City's economy is ce… Several gambling halls in the town keep Deadwood alive and there is plenty for visitors to do including touring several historical buildings which have been restored to their original … The working post office shares an aged building with the town’s fake sheriff’s office, complete with a dummy and a makeshift jail. 36600 Ghost Town RoadYermo, CA 92398Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Everyone knows the expression “get the hell out of Dodge,” but in reality, you should probably get the hell to Dodge. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Many neighborhoods have only three or four homes, with plenty of land in between. Visitors are free to explore its spooky remains, but there are no kitschy reenactments, restaurants, or shops selling … Silverton might be the highest Wild West town in the country — and no, that’s not a swipe at Denver. Perhaps most well-known as the setting of HBO’s popular Deadwood series, the town is now a National Historic Landmark with a wealth of preserved history. mobile app. This includes personalizing content and advertising. Fittingly, Schieffelin called the town “Tombstone” because he was initially told he would find nothing there but his own tombstone. Visit the Boot Hill museum, located on the site of the historic Boot Hill cemetery, for a look at the 60,000 artif… As the frontier boomed and young men ventured west in … Down an endless road, deep into the beautifully barren Mojave National Preserve, the wind pushes your car around, and your lips feel like parched sandpaper. You also have to stop in at the Ponderosa Saloon, a quirky bar that’s as Wild West as it gets. Finally, a place to stretch their legs, breathe some fresh air, and have a drink or 10. A booming mining town established in 1859 during the discovery of a major silver deposit called the Comstock Lode, the town was named after Virginia miner James “Old Virginny” Finney. The American Wild West is featured so often in Hollywood films and on TV that many of us feel like we know it very well – the cowboys, the gun … Three hours east of Los Angeles, this small settlement in the Mojave started off as a railroad community. The dust in the air chokes. There is a forlorn, abandoned basketball court, and a fireplace—all that’s left of a small house. In the 1970s, the construction of new highways made Route 66 obsolete, and Amboy’s fortunes fell. The mines had pithy names like the Bismark, the Burning Moscow, and the Waterloo. In 1946, Hollywood came to the high desert to stay. The town was fast abandoned, leaving behind a bygone relic. Once they arrived, they saw a massive infrastructure campaign in progress, which would eventually make California City the third-largest city in the state by landmass, a title which it still holds. If you are looking for the best Wild West towns and activities, then this article will give you some great tips! Here’s a guide to five ghost towns near Mojave. Those that didn’t, that outlived their usefulness yet still exist, are now faded snapshots of the time and place when they were at their best. Read time: 9 mins. Just outside of Barstow in the Mojave Desert—designated the state of California’s official “silver rush ghost town” in 2005—Calico started its life as a lawless 19th-century mining camp. Shaniko – Wool Capitol of the World. A woman smiles when you peek into the windows of the adorable motel’s reception office. Providing family fun since 1974. Deadwood – Rough & Tumble Old West Town. The town was named after a woman named Olive Oatman, who was kidnapped by an Apache tribe and then sold as a slave to Mohave indians. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Here’s why. And while the gold mine might be all dried up, you can still take the Old Hundred Gold Mine Tour, which lets you ride an electric mine train into the Galena Mountain, and watch immersive mining demos that use authentic machines dating back nearly 100 years. After gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, people flocked to the Deadwood area to make their fortune. Hickock was shot and killed in Deadwood while holding the infamo… Buses of potential buyers were brought to California City. Tired of the incessant travel that came with filming Westerns, they built Pioneertown as a permanent Wild West set. Rough, rowdy and dangerous, the pioneer town became famous for the western icons who passed through, such as the saloon-keeper turned lawman Wyatt Earp. Wild West Town is a wild west themed amusement park in Illinois. Most of the outdoor scenes were shot elsewhere, but these are a couple of places to go that have their roots in the Old West See more ideas about Wild west, Old west photos, Old west. Pioneertown’s influx of young residents has driven some people away. He promised to restore and reopen Roy’s, a goal which he seems to have minimally accomplished. The promise of wealth lured outlaws, gamblers, and gunslingers who transformed the town into a vibrant and often dangerous place. Founded in 1895, the Wild West town attracted adventurers seeking their fortunes, but their bounty soon dried up. The expansive structure included “a conductor’s room, telegraph office, baggage room, dormitory rooms for staff, boarding rooms for railroad crewmen, a billiard room, library and locker room.” The depot quickly became the social center of tiny Kelso, the site of “Christmas parties, square dances, church services and trials.” It was a beacon of hospitality in unforgiving terrain. There are few Wild West buffs who haven't heard of Deadwood, SD, and this town remains one of the true wonders of Old Wild West. Nowadays the town has shed its gunfighting reputation and leaned into its cattle history. In the recreated print shop, a friendly skeleton wears an old-fashioned green visor and kitschy wanted posters of madams and madmen are displayed on the walls. The term “ghost town” has an ominous tone, but most of the ghost towns in the United States used to be mining towns that boomed quickly then died out when the mines dried up and the townspeople left in search of better luck elsewhere.The dilapidated buildings and ruins of these towns serve as a living history of wild west living in the late 1800s and early 1900s. That year, a group of Hollywood investors, including cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, Dick Curtis, Bob Nolan, Russell Hayden, and Tim Spencer, bought 13 acres of desert land 25 miles from Palm Springs. According to the Los Angeles Times: Calico was a rip-roaring town teeming with miners, boomers, promoters, gamblers and fortune hunters... Five thousand men swarmed up the canyons and gulches from their stone huts each morning to grab with picks and blast with powder for rich silver ore. A dog carried the mail in pouches strapped to his back. After gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, people flocked to the Deadwood area to make their fortune. Who knew a deserted, rough-and-tumble mining boomtown in the Wild West could be so delightful? You can visit the Oatman Jail and Museum to view the town’s old holding pens and sheriff’s office, or check out the several local shops selling classic Americana. California City was the brainchild of a dapper Czechoslovakian sociologist named Nathan K. Mendelsohn. At its height during World War II, the population of Kelso reached around 2,000. Founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schiefflein, who discovered silver in the area, Tombstone was the setting of perhaps the most legendary event in Wild West history: the Gunfight at the O.K. You can even book a ranch tour and learn how to shoot a rifle. Corral and view reenactments of the famous gunfight, or even spend the day at the Tombstone Wild West Theme Park where there are daily gunfight shows (no, you don’t have to participate). Most look like they have been there for many years. It earned a reputation as one of the most sinful towns in the West by the end of the 1800s. According to the LA Times: An ambitious street system was designed and roads were cut into the brush, making the grid that can now be seen from the air. Also be sure to catch the Ghost Rider Gunfighters show in the town center, which takes place daily at 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM. However, the industries and factories that Mendelsohn promised to lure to the city never came. The entire town of Tombstone was awarded National Landmark District status in 1961, as “one of the best preserved specimens of the rugged frontier of the 1870s and 1880s.” If that’s not enough incentive to visit, it’s also nicknamed “The Town Too Tough to Die,” which is the most Wild West moniker you could possibly imagine. A popular pit stop for hikers to take an, um, “lode” off along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, South Pass City is one of Wyoming’s most highly trafficked Old West ghost towns. They went boom, then bust, but some of the desert’s early settlements haven’t entirely disappeared. O’Brien, a grizzled Navy veteran. Driving out of town as the sun goes down in the huge, cloudless sky, you pass row upon row of empty dirt roads, like the imprint from a shoe. But it’s not nearly enough people to fill even a fraction of the land. Say “howdy” to one heck of a smoking-hot deal straight out of the Wild West. During the 1980s and ’90s, Kelso became a virtual ghost town, with only a few residents. Along with the silver boom in Creede, so came the boom of Ouray. Across the street from the depot, the old post office is boarded up. And the gaudy colors in the mineral stained mountains which formed a backdrop for it all reminded someone of a piece of calico. How to Create a Genuine Looking Old Wild West Town Scene. For true history buffs, you can actually visit the graves of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane at Mount Moriah Cemetery. This name generator will give you 10 random names for Wild West towns and towns in similar settings. Living in Idaho is like living in a time capsule. Sumpter – Queen City Ghost Town. Los Angeles is the home of the film industry, especially during the era when many of those great old western films and television shows were made. Many of Wild West City’s buildings are accurate reproductions, loaded with period items and antiques. Speaking of not quitting your day job, gambling is still alive and well in Deadwood, though it’s evolved somewhat from backroom poker games to more modern establishments. At Roy’s Motel and Café, an old man sits by the gas station: is he working? All attractions and rides for one admission fee. Dodge City is much more quaint these days. A hub for the meatpacking industry, Dodge hosts the Dodge City Days annual festival — a 10-day festival featuring a longhorn cattle drive and the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo. Most work in the local jail, at nearby Edwards Air Force Base, and in the large Boron mine to the east. Sun in your face and cold drink in your hand, singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival: Who doesn’t love a road trip to the desert? The justice of the peace chewed tobacco and swallowed the juice. It also boasted an alarmingly high number of gunfighters, brothels, and all other manner or Wild West shenanigans. Calico’s second wind would come in 1951, when Walter Knott, whose uncle had made his fortune with a Calico mine, bought the collection of dilapidated shacks and mines that were left. Oatman is filled with wild donkeys roaming the streets, dusty roads, and shops with old wooden porches. In the 1950s, it was reinvented by Walter Knott, the very man who brought us Knotts Berry Farm. 87520 National Trail Highway Amboy CA, 92304. In addition to the trail, you can check out the Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indians Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, and the Cody Firearms Museum. Prostitutes - or 'soiled doves' and 'sportin' women' as they were commonly known - were a fixture in western towns and cities. Once again, it serves as a friendly way station, selling maps, candy bars, and nostalgia to visitors battling the cruel desert sun. The Wild West represents a unique period in the growth of the US, when borders were being expanded and new lands discovered during the late 19th century. 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Suddenly, it rises like a fairytale castle: a large Spanish Revival structure. Be careful though, if you break the law in our town… The shootout pitted Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earpp and Doc Holliday against Ike and Billy Clanton, Billy Claiborne, and Tom and Frank McLaury. Two of the motel rooms are open. The gunfights, rodeos, tumbleweeds, and dusty saloons of America’s untamed frontier might sound like cinematic tropes, but they’re also a very real part of the country’s history. Nestled in the San Juan Mountains, this picturesque mountain town, now known as the “Switzerland of America,” was once a rowdy wild west town where silver prospectors came for fast fortunes. Modern Abilene has done a first-rate job of preserving those wild times, especially in its celebration last year of the 150th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail. A sales office and model houses were constructed, and work was started on Central Park, an 80-acre recreational area that eventually included a 20-acre lake, outdoor swimming pool, playing fields, par-three golf course, picnic areas, tennis courts, indoor sports center and community building. Sure, Hollywood has dramatized the Wild West and turned it into a cinematic cliche, but that doesn’t detract from the period’s historic significance or how its cowboys, crooks, and gamblers have captured our imaginations. The settlement was born when workers laying tracks for a railroad came to the edge of the canyon, with no way to cross over until a bridge was built. We’ve all enjoyed watching old Westerns with cowboys, cattle rustlers, saloon brawls, train and stage coach robberies, and street gun fights… the … They could not see what he saw.”. There is a restored lunch counter, telegraph office, and exhibitions that tell the history of the area. Sandwiched between Yosemite National Park and the Nevada border, Bodie offers a very different way to immerse yourself in the Wild West. These 8 Towns In Idaho Still Look Like Something Straight Out Of The Wild West. In 2005, the restored depot was opened as the visitor center for Mojave National Preserve. A half-hour guided tour will bring you through the mine shaft, which has proven to be one of the town’s most popular tourist draws. Complete with a false-facade Old West Mane Street (pun intended), comfortable motel, and stables, Pioneertown served as a location for more than 50 movies and TV shows. But shortly after, it began to dwindle as nearby mines closed and the switch from steam engine to diesel rendered the depot’s purpose as a way station obsolete—since trains no longer needed assistance climbing steep grades. Some have been re-purposed, some glamorized, some left to rot. Just a short distance from any urban area in the Gem State is a town that looks like its been stuck in the mid 1800’s for the past 150 years. One faux-aged wooden marker reads: Here lies Jerimiah Mountain Man 1928-2005. CANYON DIABLO, ARIZONA Nowhere in the Southwest was there a more violent place than the railroad town of Canyon Diablo, giving it the top spot on our list of the meanest Wild West towns. In the general store on Main Street, there are fat peppermints and candy cigarettes. The iconic Roy’s Motel and Café opened in the 1930s, and for decades it was the domain of owner Buster Burris, “a rough-hewn entrepreneur with flinty eyes, sun-toasted skin and strong opinions about rowdy bikers and men with long hair.”. There are lots ideal for middle-class family homes. More than 500 mines were soon in operation, producing the biggest silver load in California history. By the mid-1930s, only four residents were left. The world’s love affair with America’s Wild West has always burned bright, and nothing in the country’s history compares to the period from 1865 to 1895 when prospectors and pioneers pushed their way towards better lives and scrambled for pots of gold. The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” wafts through the air. Dodge was nicknamed the “Queen of the Cowtowns” due to the herds of longhorns shipped there, but it’s probably better known for its abundance of gunfighters and brothels. In 1881, John McBryde and Lowery Silver discovered silver ore in the dusty mountains near Wall Street Canyon. Waiting? In 1966, he donated the restored—and heavily sanitized—town to the county of San Bernardino. These days Silverton is a little more respectable. Here are the ones you can visit. For that reason, we name Abilene our top Western Town for 2018. Corral. You can even pan for gold at the Lost Boot Mine, but don’t expect to strike it rich. Ever have the hankering to experience a post-apocalyptic 1950s-kitschy hellscape? Well, there’s history, of course. Driving through California City today is an eerie experience. Soon a post office, cafeteria, and rudimentary homes for Union Pacific workers and prospectors sprang up in the isolated spot. And on Mane Street, Old West cottages built for movies are being lived in by real people—and an art installation even adorns one private yard. Settlements were raised in the dry and unaccommodating desert for many reasons. Dodge City, was once the epicenter of the Wild West. In the dust-covered ’50s-style kitchen, you might glimpse a desert version of trapped Betty Draper standing at the window, staring out at the train tracks. Mane Street is a friendly place, not a grimacing desperado in sight. When you pull into Amboy today, the first thing you notice is the music. But by far the most compelling area is the Calico Graveyard, where mountaineers and prospectors from Calico’s past—and modern-day boosters and cowboys—are buried under handmade markers, their graves covered in desert rock. These friendly green aliens seem to outnumber the human residents of California City. This must be how 20th-century passengers on the Union Pacific felt when they first saw the railroad depot in Kelso. Today, the picturesque tourist trap is all charm, with no true grit (or ghosts) in sight. Its biggest claim to fame wasn’t precious metal, however, but its red light district, which featured dance halls, saloons, and bordellos. You can take a ride through an old mine on a tram, pan for silver, take pot shots in the shooting gallery, and camp overnight under the Calico hills. Buy a cowboy hat from the hip guy with an alt-country beard in another store (and pay over Venmo) and consider purchasing a beautiful earthenware mug in another. Some of them were abandoned en masse, while in others people left gradually until no one was left. You’ve probably heard of some of Deadwood’s most famous residents, like Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock. Known as Ghost Town in the Sky, this abandoned Wild West-themed amusement park in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, has seen as many ups and downs over the decades as its old roller coaster. Top 10 Wild West towns in America . What looks like a food truck is parked in the driveway, the words “Research Flat Earth” painted on its side. South Dakota. The Cody Nite Rodeo takes place every night and is truly one of the most unique rodeo experiences you’ll get in the West. The mines in Oatman were some of the largest in the West, and even after those mines dried up, the town became a popular pit stop for visitors traveling along Route 66. Soon it became the lynchpin for several small towns sprouting up around the area’s largest mines. The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, includes the geography, history, folklore, and cultural expression of life in the forward wave of American expansion that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few territories as states in 1912. Calico is a desert ghost town, theme-park style. Just west of the town of Lone Pine on Highway 395, at the foot of Mount Whitney, are the Alabama Hills. By 1969, the year Mendelsohn pulled out amid a torrent of lawsuits and government investigations, California City had only 1,700 residents. A small community of eccentrics and loners eventually grew around this fake old village in the desert. “I fell in love with the desert,” he said, echoing the sentiments of those who still called Kelso home. You’ve probably heard of some of Deadwood’s most famous residents, like Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock. The once-bustling depot was closed by Union Pacific in 1985. “It is a little too crowded for me,” longtime resident Jim Austin told the New York Times last year, having just sold his home to a couple from Oakland. Remnants of Doge’s days of infamy are alive and well, however, with the Longbranch Saloon and Gospel Hill accessible via trolley ride. “He would take people up on a hill overlooking the land and explain to them about the city that would be there one day,” his secretary Renate Saremba recalled. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Who knew a deserted, rough-and-tumble mining boomtown in the Wild West could be so delightful? When you visit us you will learn about late 19th-century farming tools, period dressmaking, blacksmithing, and much more. There’s a soiled mattress in one, and a strange art installation in the other. Calico is a desert ghost town, theme-park style. The Silverton experience wouldn’t be complete, however, without riding on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a historic coal-fired, steam-powered locomotive that travels through canyons and forest between Durango and Silverton. The rough-hewn wooden structures look as if they were transported from the Old West. Search for a topic, destination or article, We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. Western Towns - Our Top 10 True Western Towns - What makes a True Western Town? Whether it’s about lawmen and gunfighters, ranchers and sodbusters, or railroads and boomtowns, all True Western Towns have a story to tell. Americans have always had a fascination with the Wild West. An authentic mining ghost town that hosted more than 60 saloons and dance halls at its peak, its decay has been frozen by park authorities. If you've ever had to "get out of Dodge," you may understand what this wildest of Wild West towns was like back when Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson were patrolling the streets. “It was time for me to bug off rather than becoming that grumpy old dude trying to stop change.”, The Curbed guide to Southern California’s deserts, The Curbed guide to Southern California’s desert, In Palm Springs, a couple embraces midcentury style—and green design, An illustrated guide to Southern California’s desert plants, Arthur Elrod and the vibrant, modern interiors of Palm Springs, How to spend a weekend in and around Palm Springs. There are roads laid out in a perfect grid. And if you happen to be visiting the “Rodeo Capital of the World” between June 1 and August 31, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t see a rodeo. The town has grown over the years, now boasting around 14,000 people. Oregon. However, there's still plenty of chances to step back in time. According to the history, “Kelso was perfectly situated to fill both roles, since it is located near the bottom of the 2,078-foot grade, and had a reliable water source from a nearby spring in the Providence Mountains.”.