When gold was discovered in California in the 1850s, a frenzy of adventurers headed west seeking their fortunes. Soon thousands of mining towns had popped up all over the American West as precious metals were discovered. But the bounty soon ran out and the towns surrounding the mines were fast abandoned. Today, some of these little pockets of history survive largely unscathed, preserving a long-forgotten way of life.

Today, Virginia City is a ghost town very much alive. This is thanks to Charles and Sue Bovey, who bought the town bit by bit in the 1940s to restore and preserve its original buildings. Currently, Virginia City is open for visitors.

Today, a train connects both towns while live re-enactments every weekend offer a glimpse into the life in the Wild West in the 1800s.

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Old West buildings line the main street while more modern additions like mid-century oil signs and 1950s-style gas station contribute to its peculiar appearance. There’s a mini museum and, if you’re brave enough, the family also provides guided tours through the Techatticup Mine tunnels, which extend deep into the surrounding hills.

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Perhaps the best-known Gold Rush ghost town in all of America, Bodie has attracted travellers and photographers for years. In its heyday, this California gold mining town had 10,000 inhabitants and 65 saloons, gambling halls, opium dens and brothels. The frequent outbreaks of violence and murders earned Bodie the dubious reputation as the most lawless mining camp in the far west.

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Today, Bodie is part of the Bodie State Historic Park and peeking inside most houses, including the church is off-limits. Typically, Bodie Foundation runs a variety of tours that allow visitors to explore and learn more about the town's history, including free history talks and stamp mill tours.

Between 1909 and 1938 Kennecott mines produced over 4.6 million tonnes of ore that contained £1.2 billion ($1.55bn) of copper. But by the late 1930s the mines were depleted, and the facilities abandoned. It has been a national historic landmark open to visitors since the 1980s.

By 1907, Rhyolite had electric lights, water mains, a stock exchange and a population of over 7,000. But several unfortunate events led to the downfall of Rhyolite: the 1907 San Francisco earthquake and a financial panic later that same year both made it too expensive to prospect gold. By the end of 1910, the mine was operating at a loss and it closed in 1911. Rhyolite was entirely abandoned just nine years later.

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Today it’s one of the most photographed ghost towns in the West. Ruins include a railroad depot and the Bottle House, which has thousands of bottles embedded into its walls like a mosaic. The town has also served as a set for several Hollywood pictures like The Island and Six String Samurai. About a dozen buildings are still standing, including a general store, bank, jail and train station, and it’s possible to wander in and around most of them.

Calico has been a ghost town for over a hundred years now, since the last mine shut its doors in 1906. In the mid-1950s the town was meticulously restored and converted into a regional park. Visitors today can experience ghost tours and gunfight stunt shows or board the historic narrow gauge Calico & Odessa Railroad train.

Calico is the quintessential Wild West mining town, and it’s easy to imagine gunslingers and sheriffs making their way into the town’s taverns and shops. Normally, it’s a popular destination with tourists in southern California, particularly around Halloween when Calico holds an annual Ghost Haunt.

Today, South Pass City is one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the West. Most of the original buildings are still standing and it's even possible to tour the mine. Normally, it's a popular destination, especially during Gold Rush Days in July, when the town holds re-enactments and visitors can experience what it was like to live in South Pass at the turn of the century.

There are over 30 historical buildings to visit, all of which have been restored and made safe for visitors, however, South Pass City is still an unsettling place, haunted by howling winds. It’s extremely photogenic and visitors are rewarded with breathtaking landscapes.

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Between 1847 and 1852 Coloma was an important mining town, but as the gold subsided the population declined, and the town was abandoned. It is still possible to visit the old Sutter's Mill, where the first gold discovery was made and rumour has it there's still plenty of gold left in the hills.

Virginia City has numerous restored buildings dating back to the late 19th century. Many of the saloons, stores and even hotels were reopened to cater to visitors and are still lovingly maintained in accordance with their original style. Though it’s a Gold Rush-era town, it's typically very much alive with a handful of residents and the many visitors that would normally walk its streets every year.

Everywhere the prospectors dug, they struck gold in and around Midas so soon a hotel, saloon, shops and even a newspaper were established in the town. However, its popularity was short lived as the area didn’t have enough stamp mills to support all the gold ore production. The 250 residents left Midas within the same year they had arrived.

Midas was never fully abandoned and the community finally was introduced to electricity in 1989. Today there are still about 12 full-time residents keeping the gold rush town alive. 

Founded as a silver mining camp in the early 1960s, Gold Point was once a busy town with 125 houses, hotels, saloons, a bakery and a post office. Even though it was known as Lime Point and Hornsilver at various points in history, the name Gold Point is the one that stuck. When the Second World War began, the government ordered all gold mines to be shut down and as mining ceased, residents moved away.

Nowadays, visitors can explore Gold Point’s history thanks to two men who own most of the town’s buildings. Herb Robbins and Walt Kremin bought the remains in the late 1970s and early 1981, refurbished them and made them available for people to visit. There are even some restored miner’s cabins for people to stay in. 

When silver was discovered in the nearby Shoshone Mountain Range a wave of people started to settle in Ione. Founded in 1863, this established the town as a trade and milling centre and it even became the seat of Nye County. The town was also home to the county’s first courthouse, which you can still explore today. However, as another town called Belmont was becoming more popular, the gold rush town lost most of its population and its country seat. Even though Ione had small booms in 1986 and again in 1912, they weren’t long lived. 

Today the small town prides itself as ‘the town that refused to die’ and still has a population of 41. However, with the exception of one market, all the businesses closed in Ione with the post office being the last one to shutter in 1959. 

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