When I started my journey to document all the ghost towns in Nevada, I was a little worried about how quickly I would run out of sites. Nevada Ghost Towns & Mining Camps list about 600; I thought I would finish my project in a few years. I asked Nevada ghost town author extraordinaire Shawn Hall how many ghost towns were in Nevada; he said he had over 1,200. Ok, so it would take me a few more years.
Then the UPS driver visited frequently, more often than I liked to tell Hubby, expanding my library and adding to my list of ghost towns to visit. I used online resources, including Nevada Expeditions, Forgotten Nevada, Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining History, and the number grew exponentially.
How many ghost towns are in Nevada? Ask twenty people, and you will get twenty answers.
It all depends on the definition of a ghost town. Some people refer to Virginia City and Genoa as ghost towns. Neither of those towns was ghosted, and they still have a thriving town. To others, ghost towns are only towns that residents completely abandoned.
But what constitutes a “town?” Stan Paher told me his criteria are 25 residents, a business, and some form of postal delivery. Later when I asked about Lahontan City, which met all those criteria yet didn’t make his list, Stan said the town was never intended to be a long-term town as it would be gone following the completion of the Lahontan Dam.
For my purposes, I enjoy visiting any location with historical significance, thus the magical word “Beyond” in my title. It doesn’t matter to me: town, mining camp, emigrant trail encampment, Pony Express or stage stop.
I document my trips in Stan’s Nevada Ghost Towns & Mining Camps. He asked me a while ago how many ghost towns I have visite. The first thing I asked was by what definition of a ghost town? Stan said ghost towns in his book. I asked how many he guessed I had visited and he said 60. I went home that weekend, and they totaled 160!
This weekend, I caught up my notes in the Stan’s book. I decided to total the number of Stan’s ghost towns I have visited.
212 ghost towns!
So, shown many ghost towns, mining camps, and historical sites in Nevada? My guess is thousands. If I use a broad definition of a ghost town, I’m closer to 500. I will keep working on visiting each ghost town, but I have enough to keep me busy for decades!
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