Cheratte lives on in the shadow of its abandoned coal mine, although most of the shops are abandoned and many of the city’s landmarks have fallen into disrepair. Like other Belgian mining towns, those who have stayed in the town have kept up their apartments, so much of the company-building duplexes and homes are in great condition.
Looking at the town from a highway turn-off. This is how most people see it.
Mammoth Mine overlooks Central City from atop Mammoth Hill. In the distance you can make out Coeur d’Alene Mine (red), which operated from 1885 through 1940.
One side of the street is demolished. The other is not.
This was taken before the top of the docks really started to rot-out; now this stretch past the crane is distinctly unsafe to cross. Still, you can’t beat the view of Dock #2 winding into the distance, where the approach is chopped-off before the yard used to extend.
Don’t you love the shape of the house on the right?
The Duncan House overlooks the Columbus Mill (left) and the Gold Prince Mill ruins (not picture, but to the right). Note the Columbus Mine itself above the mill.
Arson seems to be a big problem on the former sanatorium property.
Looking down Pommenicher Straße from Gaststätte Rosarius, the monstrous machine about to devour the town bites at the ground.
I wonder who boarded the family house… the EPA?
A typical dwelling in San Luis. I could not tell if it was occupied, but most of the town is abandoned.
Spots of yellow gravel mark gold mines with nothing left on the surface. Is this one of the drainage pipes?
A row of houses north of Pommenige.
Taken as I drove out of Silverton, CO. One of my favorite landscapes of 2015. Want a print? Email me!
Looking at the headframe for Shaft 3 from the tower for Shaft 1. Below is the roof of the Dry House. It was hard to remind myself that these building have been abandoned longer than I’ve been alive.
When the bank burned, it was demolished except for the vault, which sits behind the depot.
Near the base of the mesa is a modern house, which seems to be a ranch of some sort. What a fantastic spot to live, but for the fact every rainstorm floods the arryos, muddy ditches at the bottom of gullies, making it impossible to travel.
Castle, Montana is a ghost town. Almost no signs remain that it was a mining town.
Quincy Smelter, 2014.
Looking out at the abandoned neighborhood around the house.
A row of houses north of Pommenige.
Looking out of one of the biggest houses in Animas Forks toward the rest of the residential district. It is hard to imagine the life the people here lived, for those that stayed the winter.
Upper Prize Street in Nevadaville earned the nickname ‘dogtown’ when a pack of dogs took over the abandoned houses.
These houses was built by hard rock miners in the early 1900s.
It would be a shame if this building is not preserved. Word is (as of 2015) that construction may start on this section soon.
A self portrait from more than a decade ago.
William Duncan built this house for his family in 1879. It has become one of the most popular structures in the ghost town of Animas Forks.
The ruins of the the Hubert Mine over the ruins of Nevadaville. Its ore was taken through the town to a mill below it.
A yellow house above the mineshaft.
The southernmost houses in Gilman are seen through the pines on the right, near the tram stop.
2005. Looking across the Mississippi from a park the night after the first snow.
This building was 99 years old when it was demolished for the coal mine.
The porch of the Gustavson House with the southern San Juan range in the background. Bring your own rocking chair…
A wide view of the complex from a far rooftop.
The generator room was state of the art when it was installed, allowing the complex to use motors and electric lighting ahead of its competitors.
Looking toward downtown, one is reminded that when Stahlmann built here in 1855 that it was on the very edge of the city.