ANOTHER AMERICAN
GHOST TOWN
G'day folks,
Yep, another abandoned town.
Eagle Mountain is among
the America’s best preserved ghost towns, mostly due to the fact that it’s one
of the newest. In the shadows of Joshua Tree in in Riverside County, the
town was founded in 1948 by Henry J. Kaiser, a.k.a, the father of
modern American shipbuilding. And yet even with a great industrialist on
its side, this town tells a familiar story of abandonment.
It was a rich iron ore deposit that brought Henry
Kaiser to Eagle Mountain, and at its height during World War II, the town
had a population of over 4,000 people. There were wide boulevards, tennis
courts, several schools, churches, an auditorium, a park, a shopping center, a
swimming pool and a bowling alley. In the 1970s, resources were running low and
environmental concerns slowed down the mining operations. In 1981, after 35
years of mining, the Kaiser Corporation announced the end to operations
there altogether.
The last high school class graduated from Eagle Mountain in
1983 and only the few residents left behind clung on to the hope of a future
for their desert home. A few years later, the town’s shopping mall was
converted into a prison, which only lasted for 5 years until budgetary
problems and a fatal riot closed the correctional facility down for good. To
keep any kind of industry alive in the town, it was even proposed to turn the
area and its old mine into a giant landfill– but that idea has never found much
traction.
Ironically, the only interest in Eagle Mountain lately has
come from Hollywood, when the area is used as an occasional film set. Universal
Studios used the town to make a 3D film for a theme park attraction
based on the original Terminator 2 – Judgment Day movie. Other movies
made there include apocalyptic action flicks such as The Island (2005) and Battle of Los Angeles (2011).
As of 2007, the perimeters of both the town and mine
have been fenced and gated to the public. The easiest way to see Eagle
Mountain today is by drone.
Clancy's comment: Amazing, eh? I see these places and wonder about homeless folks, and shake my head.
I'm ...
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