// the atlas of ghost towns

Towns that boomed. Then emptied out.

A clinical atlas of the places that exploded out of nothing on a gold strike, an oil field, or a rail junction — and the day the last person turned off the lights. Every entry is a full life cycle: the boom, the decline, why it died, and what remains today.

15 documented towns Updated Jun 1, 2026

GT-015 · 1859

California, USA

Bodie, California: The Gold Camp Held in Arrested Decay

depletion fire gold pre-1900

~7,000–10,000 (c. 1879–1880) · Preserved

GT-014 · 1908

Karas Region, Namibia

Kolmanskop, Namibia: The Diamond Town the Desert Swallowed

depletion diamonds 1900s

~1,200 (early 1920s) · Ruins

GT-013 · 1866

Pennsylvania, USA

Centralia, Pennsylvania: The Town Above a Fire That Won’t Go Out

disaster fire coal pre-1900

~2,700 (c. 1890); ~1,000 (1980) · Gone

GT-012 · 1887

Nagasaki, Japan

Hashima Island, Japan: The Concrete Battleship That Was a Coal City

depletion economic coal pre-1900

5,259 (1959) · Ruins

GT-011 · 1905

Nevada, USA

Rhyolite, Nevada: The Concrete Boomtown the Panic of 1907 Killed

depletion economic gold 1900s

~5,000 (c. 1907–1908) · Ruins

GT-010 · 1903

Alaska, USA

Kennecott, Alaska: The Copper Camp That Closed Overnight

depletion copper 1900s

~300–600 (mill town and camps) · Preserved

GT-009 · 1910

Svalbard, Norway

Pyramiden, Svalbard — The Frozen Soviet Outpost

geopolitical coal 20th-century

~1,000 (late 1980s) · Preserved

GT-008 · 1862

Montana, USA

Bannack, Montana — The Territory’s First Capital

commodity-bust gold 19th-century

~3,000 (mid-1860s) · Preserved

GT-007 · 1881

California, USA

Calico, California — The Silver Camp That Outlived Its Metal

commodity-bust silver 19th-century

~1,200 (1880s) · Restored

GT-006 · 1880

Colorado, USA

St. Elmo, Colorado: The Supply Town the Narrow Gauge Left Behind

depletion rail-bypass gold silver pre-1900

~2,000 (1881) · Preserved

GT-005 · 1895

Montana, USA

Garnet, Montana: The Gold Camp a Shallow Vein and a Fire Hollowed Out

depletion fire gold pre-1900

~1,000 (c. 1898) · Preserved

GT-004 · 1819

Alabama, USA

Old Cahawba, Alabama: The First State Capital the Rivers Drowned Out

economic flood agriculture pre-1900

~3,000 (1850s–1860s) · Preserved

GT-003 · 1900

West Virginia, USA

Thurmond, West Virginia: The Coal Depot the Diesel Engine Killed

economic rail-bypass coal rail 1900s

~462 residents (1930); ~75,000 passengers/yr · Preserved

GT-002 · 1903

Texas, USA

Terlingua, Texas: The Quicksilver Town Beside Big Bend

depletion economic mercury 1900s

~1,000-2,000+ (1910s-1920s) · Ruins

GT-001 · 1915

Arizona, USA

Oatman, Arizona: The Gold Town That Route 66 Saved, Then Lost

depletion rail-bypass gold 1900s

~3,500 (c. 1916); higher estimates to ~10,000 · Ruins