Ghost Town of Golden

[Golden Community Church, a multi-exposure vertical panorama]


["Visitors Welcome"]


[The General Store]



[This outhouse is really part of the national monument]

I'm back home and settled in. It really takes a few days to get reacclimated to the pace of life out here. It's so much nicer than the Greater Los Angeles area.

The other day we went on a field trip to the ghost town of Golden. It's about 7 miles from the sanctuary, but I've never been before.

This whole part of the state was shaped by the gold rush, with many 19th century prospectors turning north to the Rogue River Valley from California. There are still quite a few active claims in the area, but nothing like what was in Golden.

The area was mined with hydraulic techniques that washed tons of dirt through sluices, leaving the soil level about 40' lower in some areas. When the gold dried up, they left the town just as it stood.

Nowadays, there are just a handful of buildings left. They are simple, but beautiful in an eerie kind of way.

It's good to be home.