More Ghost Towns

Another road trip to find a couple more semi-ghost towns, Hillsboro and Kingston, this time we managed to find them both.

 

Our first stop was Kingston on the way we stopped at the parking area to visit the historic Warren Deck Truss Bridge that spans Percha Creek.

Built in 1927 as part of the Black Range Highway, the bridge crosses Percha Creek a pretty but very deep gorge, sorry no pictures of the gorge.   There are also a couple of low bridges on the way so it’s not a road we’d be able to travel with BT and the Cougar, well not if we wanted to be sure our air conditioners stayed on the roof!

 

Kingston is now a quiet little place with lots of For Sale signs.

Visiting now it’s hard to believe that during the 1880’s Kingston was a bustling silver mining town.   At one time it had 14 grocery and general stores, an opera house where Lillian Russell once performed, 23 saloons, a brewery, 3 newspapers, stage lines serving major routes and numerous hotels and as with nearly everywhere we visited last summer, Butch Cassidy was here!

There are a few remnants of the old town left, the assay office and Victorio Hotel but these are now private residences.   There is a museum in the old bank building but unfortunately the day we visited it was closed.

We had planned to continue up Emory Pass through the mountains on the way to Silver City, but as the clouds rolled in we decided to return to Hillsboro.

Hillsboro was a gold mining town founded in 1877, despite fierce Indian attacks the town grew and eventually became the county seat of Sierra County in 1884.

The mines in the area produced about $6 million in gold and silver and by 1907 the town had a population of 1,200.   It is also believed that Hillsboro had the last working stage line in the US.

We had a very late lunch at the Old Barbershop Café, we’d been told to try the bumbleberry pie, it must be good as the day we visited they’d sold out.

Have fun, we are!