Ghost Towns by Clint Thomsen

Author:Clint Thomsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ghost Towns: Lost Cities of the Old West
ISBN: 9781782001072
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

View of Calico, California.

Hank’s Hotel in Calico, California.

In 1966, Knott donated the entirety of the restored ghost town to San Bernardino County. The county continues to manage it as a regional park using revenue generated from camping, gate entrance, and concessionaires. Visitors are treated to gunfight reenactments, live shows, and guided tours. Calico saw approximately 238,000 visitors in fiscal year 2009–10.

View of a stone residence with replica bottle house in the foreground. Calico’s bottle house was inspired by the bottle house in Rhyolite, Nevada.

Though most ghost-towners view both Bodie and Calico with high regard, a proxy rivalry of sorts has developed between them. Devotees of both parks lobbied the California Legislature to name one of them the state’s official ghost town in 2002. The debate resulted in the “Great Ghost Town Compromise of 2002,” with legislators designating Bodie as California’s official gold rush ghost town and Calico as its official silver rush ghost town.

Yet the philosophical debate still rages. Diehard fans of Bodie dismiss Calico as inauthentic and overcommercialized, arguing that it plays to quixotic Old West stereotypes. Calico loyalists laud the town’s enhanced offerings and poke fun at Bodie’s dependence on government funds. Both viewpoints have merit. Indeed, most of Calico’s buildings are replicas, and other buildings have been added over time that likely didn’t exist in the original town—hence the “creative restoration” descriptor. However, Calico’s original structures alone would qualify it as a top-rate ghost town. And though Bodie’s future as a publically accessible park is far from certain—it was scheduled for closure in 2009 until a budget compromise was reached—it enjoys dedicated backing from the nonprofit Bodie Foundation, which raises funds to support ongoing maintenance.

Ultimately, Bodie and Calico occupy opposite ends of the same philosophical spectrum. Between them lies a potpourri of other preserved ghosts, including Bannack, Montana; Miner’s Delight, Wyoming; and Goldfield, Arizona. The protected and preserved designation also extends to the preserved military establishments of Cove Fort, Utah, and Fort Bridger, Wyoming, as well as the Mormon agricultural communities of Chesterfield, Idaho, and Benmore, Utah.

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