Traveling Through Nebraska: Terlingua Ghost Town
Located in far western Texas, near the Rio Grande River, in a desert landscape, the Terlingua Ghost Town, though not in Nebraska, offers insight into ghost towns that dot the Great Plains of Nebraska and other parts of the American West. The town, originally a mining community, remains an impressive relic of its former glory.
In the late 19th century, Terlingua was a thriving mining town, with its population reaching nearly 2,000 people in the 1880s. The Quincy Mining Company was the primary source of employment for residents and played a significant role in the town's growth during that time. Mercury mining was the primary focus and the town quickly became one of the largest mercury producers in the United States. When the price of mercury declined in the early 20th century, however, the Quincy Mining Company eventually closed down its operations in the town in 1943, effectively terminating the source of income for its residents, sending them packing.
When mining operations ceased in Terlingua, the once-thriving town began to experience population decline significantly, and residents migrated to other mining towns and cities in search of employment. Many buildings and houses in the town began falling into disrepair. This migration out of town parallels other ghost towns along Route 30 in Nebraska - such as Hastings.
Despite the loss of population and the slow crumbling of buildings in the town, remnants of the mining era can still be found in Terlingua Ghost Town. At its peak, the Terlingua Ghost Town was a village with its mine shafts, a single-track rail line used to transport extracted minerals to the smelter, and associated industrial buildings, including the crushing mill and smelter, a school, and post office building among other historic structures. Today, remnants of all these remain.
This offers unique insight into how mining shaped the development of the regions around it. Ghost towns along Route 30 in Nebraska would mirror the conditions of Terlingua as boom-bust mining towns formed around mining camps established in remote locations eventually became ghost towns.
There are several notable events which are held in Terlingua Ghost Town today, such as the annual International Chili Championship held in November and the Living History Days also held in November. Visitors attend these events and relive the mining days in the town and surrounding areas to immerse themselves in the one-time mining boomtown that brought into existence some of America's more fascinating - and elusive - roadside attractions.
In traveling through Nebraska's roadside attractions in abandoned western localities one holds nostalgia for and thinks deeply about events like those which unfolded in a town far separated geographically but only partially so along a time dimension when and how those actions carried out there in Terlingua were brought into creation elsewhere - similar realities shared like most across its neighboring and broader cultural regions.
In the late 19th century, Terlingua was a thriving mining town, with its population reaching nearly 2,000 people in the 1880s. The Quincy Mining Company was the primary source of employment for residents and played a significant role in the town's growth during that time. Mercury mining was the primary focus and the town quickly became one of the largest mercury producers in the United States. When the price of mercury declined in the early 20th century, however, the Quincy Mining Company eventually closed down its operations in the town in 1943, effectively terminating the source of income for its residents, sending them packing.
When mining operations ceased in Terlingua, the once-thriving town began to experience population decline significantly, and residents migrated to other mining towns and cities in search of employment. Many buildings and houses in the town began falling into disrepair. This migration out of town parallels other ghost towns along Route 30 in Nebraska - such as Hastings.
Despite the loss of population and the slow crumbling of buildings in the town, remnants of the mining era can still be found in Terlingua Ghost Town. At its peak, the Terlingua Ghost Town was a village with its mine shafts, a single-track rail line used to transport extracted minerals to the smelter, and associated industrial buildings, including the crushing mill and smelter, a school, and post office building among other historic structures. Today, remnants of all these remain.
This offers unique insight into how mining shaped the development of the regions around it. Ghost towns along Route 30 in Nebraska would mirror the conditions of Terlingua as boom-bust mining towns formed around mining camps established in remote locations eventually became ghost towns.
There are several notable events which are held in Terlingua Ghost Town today, such as the annual International Chili Championship held in November and the Living History Days also held in November. Visitors attend these events and relive the mining days in the town and surrounding areas to immerse themselves in the one-time mining boomtown that brought into existence some of America's more fascinating - and elusive - roadside attractions.
In traveling through Nebraska's roadside attractions in abandoned western localities one holds nostalgia for and thinks deeply about events like those which unfolded in a town far separated geographically but only partially so along a time dimension when and how those actions carried out there in Terlingua were brought into creation elsewhere - similar realities shared like most across its neighboring and broader cultural regions.
