This book tells the story of Barstow, a town born along the enigmatic Mojave River in the middle of the formidable Mojave Desert, nurtured by countless (and mostly nameless) fortune seekers and adventurers and settled by plain folks looking for something they could not quite name. Their footprints became the foundation for a trail, a road, a railroad, and, over time, part of the most legendary highway in the country: Route 66. The early arrival of an important centralized railyard, two maj...

Get off the beaten path and explore the hidden-gem destinations within a few hours of the Mother Road! Includes numerous photos and illustrations.Known as the Main Street of America and the Mother Road, US Route 66 is the nation's best-known highway. This lavishly illustrated book steers you from Chicago to Los Angeles, traveling through the lowlands of the American Plains and the high plateaus of New Mexico and Arizona, from the Great Lakes to the mighty Pacific Oc...

The Rocky Mountain and Great Basin states are the heart of ghost-town country. Once-bustling pioneer outposts, mining camps, lumber towns, and railroad villages stand today as reminders of the glory days of gold rushes, industrial progress, and that pioneering spirit of the Old West. This book guides readers to the fascinating and scenic ghost towns of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Nevada. Varney highlights popular tourist destinations as well as out-of-the-way spots unfamil...

Explore the mystery and beauty of historic ghost towns from Illinois to California with this gorgeously illustrated guide to America's favorite highway.The quintessential boom-and-bust highway of the American West, Route 66 once hosted a thriving array of boom towns built around oil wells, railroad stops, cattle ranches, resorts, stagecoach stops, and gold mines. Join Route 66 expert Jim Hinckley as he tours more than twenty-five ghost towns, rich in stories and his...

A traveler's guide to ghost towns and historic villages of Arizona and New Mexico, featuring maps, historical background, and color photos.The Southwest is home to an enticing array of ghost towns and historic villages. Once-bustling mining camps, frontier towns, and railroad towns stand today as reminders of the glory days of mining and the Wild West. Historic buildings, abandoned schoolhouses, old mills, and overgrown cemeteries offer fascinating glimpses into the...

Much more than a ribbon of crumbling asphalt, Route 66 is a cultural icon revered the world over for its nostalgia value-an east-west artery pointing America toward all the promise that the great West represented. But as stretches of Steinbeck's Mother Road” were bypassed and fell into disuse, so too did most of the bustling establishments that had sprouted up from Illinois to California to cater to weary travelers and hopeful vacationers alike. Motor courts, cafes...

This travel guide with historic and modern photos offers maps as well as notable and picturesque route suggestions, perfect for American history buffs.With its ancient pueblos and dinosaur bones, its gold mines and railroads, and its pioneering place in the westward push of the American frontier, Colorado is a state alive with history. This illustrated adventure through historical Colorado takes readers by scenic backroads from the towering Rocky Mountains to the va...

Casa Grande, Arizona, is located on desert and farmland between Tucson and Phoenix and began as the end of an unfinished railroad line�thus its early name, Terminus. On May 19, 1879, when early summer heat halted construction of the railroad in what would soon become Casa Grande, only three buildings and five residents constituted the town. The names reflect the ethnic diversity of the sparse population: Buckalew, Ochoa, Smith, Watzlavocki, and Fryer. In September 1880, executives of the S...

In 1950, Ann was eighteen and Bob D twenty when he asked her to marry him and hit the road for West Texas. They packed their station wagon, left home and began a life of adventure together on Conoco's West Texas survey crew during the 1950s oil boom. Five kids, twenty-one towns and thirteen years on the road--Bob D and Ann's travels along the highways of West Texas are a portrait in a landscape of oilfields, railroads and ranches. Layering local history with family memoir, author Rebecca D...

Missoula began in 1860 as Hellgate Village, a trading post located about 4 miles west of what is now downtown. In 1864, the construction of a mill powered by water diverted from Rattlesnake Creek drew residents of Hellgate to the new town, and the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883 assured Missoula's future. The establishment of the University of Montana led to growth on the south side of the Clark Fork River, and the timber industry drove the economy. Missoula has evolved in...

Founded in 1908 to provide services for visitors arriving at the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park, the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, serves tens of thousands of international travelers each year. From 1908 to 1960, visitors arrived on Union Pacific Railroad parlor cars and boarded awaiting stagecoaches or, in later years, touring buses to embark on their journey to Wonderland. The railroad no longer serves this popular gateway city, but West Yellowstone boasts the largest an...

Nederland survived three boom-and-bust cycles involving three different minerals. During the silver boom, U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant visited Central City in 1873 and walked on silver bricks that had been mined in Caribou and milled in Nederland. The second boom followed the discovery of gold in Eldora in 1897 and lasted only a few years. The third boom was sparked by the discovery of tungsten by Sam Conger, the same man who made the original discovery of silver in Caribou. The Conger ...