Page "Ghost town" Paragraph 42

There are many ghost towns, or semi-ghost towns ( some of them unincorporated communities ), in the American Great Plains, the rural areas of which have lost a third of their population since 1920.

Thousands of communities in the northern plains states ( such as Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota ) became railroad ghost towns when a rail line failed to materialize.

Hundreds more were abandoned when the US Highway System replaced the railroads as the United States ' favorite mode of travel.

Ghost towns are common in mining or old mill town areas: Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington in the western United States and West Virginia in the eastern USA.

Some unincorporated towns become ghost towns due to flooding for man made lakes, such as Oketeyeconne.

They can be observed as far south as Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

When the resources that had created an employment boom in these towns were consumed, the businesses ceased to exist, and the people moved to more productive areas.

Sometimes a ghost town consists of many old abandoned buildings ( as in Bodie ); elsewhere, there remain only foundations of former buildings ( e. g., Graysonia ).

Old mining camps that have lost most of their population at some stage of their history, such as Aspen, Central City, Crested Butt, Cripple Creek, Deadwood, Marysville, Oatman, Park City, St. Elmo, Tombstone, and Virginia City, are sometimes included in the category, although they are active towns and cities today.