City - Mogollon NM - Before the ghosts 1940
by Mike Savad
Title
City - Mogollon NM - Before the ghosts 1940
Artist
Mike Savad
Medium
Photograph - Colorized Photo
Description
Colorized photo from 1940 May
Original title: Main St, Second largest gold mining town in the state
Photographer: Russell Lee
Location: Bursum Rd, Mogollon, NM, Near the museum
Mogollon, New Mexico, currently a ghost town, but was once a gold mining town. The town opened from about 1870-1880 till about 1940. The price of gold fluctuated over time, through WWI then in WWII, the price dropped so much people left the town.
The mines were dusty, full of quartz, bad for the lungs, so there wasn't really enough there for people to want to stay there when the price dropped. In its day though, there were a number of stores and bars, enough to be a whole town, roughly 3000 people worked and lived there, but the amount of people living there by 1940, it started to really decline then, and by 1950 it was almost empty. The census in 2000, showed zero people, but today there is about 15, its privately owned and they run tours showing the empty houses.
This is what they used to call Main street in the past, today its known as Bursum Rd. At the end of the block on the left, is the town's museum. And a bit behind us is Deadwood gulch.
Uploaded
March 28th, 2019
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