Summer was way too busy to find time for updating this blog, but a camping trip last week included a photo opportunity that I just had to post. I was on the way to Elko, Nevada to meet a friend for our second camping trip this year, and our 31st consecutive year of camping and photography. I took a side trip north of Wells, Nevada to the ghost town of Metropolis. This was a planned farming community started in 1910, with irrigation provided by a dam on Bishop Creek. However, the planners never bothered to get water rights and were sued by the town of Lovelock, Nevada. When Metropolis lost their water, the residents gradually moved out, and Metropolis was a ghost town by 1950.
The most spectacular ruin is the arch of the old Lincoln school. The town once had a railroad station and daily passenger service, but there is no trace of the station.
This is the basement of the ruined school. Spooky, to say the least. Someone has shored up the stairs with a couple of 2 x 6's, and there are ceiling holes everywhere, but the debris-filled space is a ghost town classic.
The other major ruin was once a hotel. Notice how isolated this place is. There are miles of treeless sagebrush plains in every direction. There is probably a cemetery somewhere, but I couldn't find it.
If you wander through the sagebrush, you will find a few foundations, the usual small artifacts like broken glass, and this wonderful rusty wreck. There used to be a city here, with houses, stores, and about 700 people, but the desert has reclaimed nearly everything.
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