March 28, 2021
Today after a
stroll around the campground at Camanche North Shore Recreation Area.
Sunrise over Camanche Recreation Area
We then headed
out to see a couple of old gold mining town. Our first stop was Campo Seco. This
was a true ghost town, with not much left but a few old dilapidated brick
buildings.
Ruins at Campo Seco
From there we
headed for another boom town that has been brought back to life, named
Columbia. It is now busy state park with lots of old buildings. Some of the old
building tell the tale of the old days, while others are more about selling
items to tourist. They didn’t get any of my cash, but I sure thought about
buying an Ice Cream cone in the 75-degree weather.
Main street in Columbia
There is a
common thread to all these old gold mining towns, and that is they all have
burned to the ground one, or more times. With each fire more stone and brick
buildings were built. Those are the buildings that remain today. It’s is kind
of amazing how the thought of striking it rich had people coming ½ around the
world to search for gold. This stampede of miners had these places grow for
just a few hardy souls to 5,000 or 6,000 residents almost overnight. Then only
to have the towns shrink back to just a few die-hards after the gold had been
depleted.
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