Midland, CA - Ghost Town
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:57 pmThis morning began with sitting on the beach by the Colorado River, watching a great sunrise and a beautiful formation of geese over the river between California and Arizona. It was pretty chilly but nothing like Coffeyville, Kansas.
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.
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.
