Custer & Bonanza Ghost Towns

So, ghost towns aren't scary. There just towns that people used to live in and now all the people are gone. I didn't know this, I was expecting goblins and shaking chains. However, it was extremely cool to visit Custer and Bonanza.

First of all, I learned that Jerry Springer did not invent human foibles. Agnes "Lizzie" King's grave site tells the story of a young bride arriving in town with her husband, Richard, who unfortunately was killed in an argument. So then Lizzie dated Charles, the owner of the local hotel. But before Charles could get Lizzie to the alter, Robert Hawthorne swept into town and swept Lizzie off her feet. They were married...briefly, before they both "died" in their home. Charles buried them beside her first husband, Richard, (in a graveyard separate from the rest of the town's graves) and then he disappeared to another town. When Charles died later, alone in his cabin, he was clutching her photo. What are the lessons to be learned here? If you're going to run off with someone when you're engaged to someone else, run to another town, so they can't kill you. Also, if the one you are betrothed to, disses you, get over them and move on to someone new so you don't die alone in a cabin suspected of murder, (unless that's your goal in life). Life lessons by Emily.

The coolest part about seeing a town that used to be there, was imagining all the lives that happened there. Custer and Bonanza were both mining towns. Custer was six times bigger than Stanley's current population. People moved there to find their fortunes. The red districts were full (there were at least four) of women of the evening. Families started, grew and dissipated from there. Then the mine hit hard times, people moved on and now the town is gone. Will my town be gone in a hundred years? Why do I worry so much about stupid things when my town could disappear just like that? Another note to self: Meals on Wheels and Ghosts Towns make me stop worrying about small petty things.

















The large machinery looking object is the Gold Dredge that is located near Custer. It moved about a mile a year tearing up dirt in order to filter out gold specks. Apparently it was closed because it was hurting the river system. Gosh, but it looks so environmentally friendly?