Two bicycling friends here at the campground told me about a modern-day ghost town nearby - Midland, CA. From the early 1950s to 1973, United States Gypsum had a large plant here in the middle of the desert. All the buildings are gone now, but former workers and family members still camp nearby and also have reunions each year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland,_California
http://www.designbycandy.com/stories/midland_ca.htm
So, my Rving buddy Steven and I decided to check it out today. We also found three geocaches in the area, a nice bonus.
Cross on the hill overlooking the former town.
Some ruins
I don't know what these buildings were.
Behind the buildings
Some graffiti
Foundations
Former tennis court
Not a bad location - too bad it gets so horribly hot. And, I don't imagine they had much air conditioning back then when the plant was operating.
Pointing the way to information. There were even a couple of paperback books in one two of the cans.
Another pointer
The pointers led us here. There was no one in either of the trailers, but they looked fairly well-kept.
This was the surprise: Quite a few very nicely done notebooks of pictures and remembrances from the plant, done by the daughter of one of the workers. They are all protected inside this trash can, the lid held on securely by two very heavy metal things.
One of the pictures - a full moon over the fully-lit town and plant.
More pictures
The day ended with a decent sunset and listening to Steven play his beautiful new mountain dulcimer. I then made some chocolate chip cookies for our community Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow afternoon, proving it is indeed possible to make cookies in a toaster oven. It just takes a lot longer.
3 comments:
I wonder if people boon dock there like at the Slabs?
U.S. Gypsum town...literally. they have now removed the train track that came out there daily. It delivered water for the town and the board a plant. The photos you show of the two trailers and blue chairs are placed where the family lived. One son, Gerry comes there often to camp....mostly in the winter. My husband Steve was one of the boys' babysitters. The town school was open from 1948 to 1966. There has been alot of graffiti. .and destruction of property. ..which is pretty sad. There is a specific web site that will give you more details and photos if you would like to see more. Steve's mother worked at the company store, his father at the board plant. There was a celebration yearly...cooking a pig and/or cow on hot coals in the ground. The reunions I usually take place on the old tennis I court in the fall...and usually coincide with homecomming in Blythe.
www.designsbycandy.com.
She was one of the Midland kids too !!
Anonymous, I just saw your comment. - thank you so much for the interesting bit of history about the place.
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