The California Gold Rush of 1848-1855 captured Americans’ imagination and led to several boomtowns throughout the Western United States. But just as quickly as some of these towns grew, they were abandoned and became ghost towns.
With Halloween right around the corner, Garfield Refining researched America’s most famous gold rush ghost towns. These abandoned towns are not just in California, either – they are spread throughout the American West.
And, if you dare, you can visit many of these ghost towns. The towns attract tourists throughout the year to look at the ruins of the distant past.
Here are the top 3 most popular Gold Rush ghost towns in America:
Bodie, California
Bodie, California, is perhaps the most popular Gold Rush ghost town in all of America. It is registered as a National and California Historic Landmark, and the former boomtown attracts about 200,000 tourists annually.
Bodie was a bustling boomtown from 1877 to 1882 with a population of more than 10,000 people. Bodie produced about $35 million in gold and silver during its peak years. But by 1910, prospectors had moved on to other boomtowns, and Bodie’s population dwindled to just 698 residents.
The town became a National Historic Landmark in the 1960s and turned into Bodie State Historic Park. In 2013, California named Bodie the state’s official Gold Rush ghost town.
Today, the Bodie site exists in a state of arrested decay. Visitors can walk around and view about 200 dilapidated wooden buildings, where bottles, desks, and other goods and relics from the old days remain.
Just make sure not to steal any of those relics. California residents know about “the Curse of Bodie,” which claims that bad luck will come upon you if you steal anything from the town.
St. Elmo, Colorado
St. Elmo is one of Colorado’s best-preserved Gold Rush ghost towns. And like Bodie, California, St. Elmo also became a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 1880, nearly 2,000 people settled in St. Elmo when gold and silver mining started there. The boomtown was in its heyday in the 1890s, featuring five hotels, saloons, a newspaper office, and a school.
By the 1920s, St. Elmo had seen better days. The mining business dried up, and the train service to the town closed.
Although considered a ghost town, St. Elmo still has a few residents left today. The remaining structures in the town include a general store, which still operates from May through October every year.
Like most ghost towns, there are legends about hauntings in St. Elmo. One famous story recounts the story of a former resident named Annabelle, an eccentric woman who roamed the town with a rifle to protect her property.
Virginia City, Montana
Virginia City, Montana, is another well-preserved Gold Rush ghost town that attracts numerous tourists every year. The town also has a tumultuous history.
A group of prospectors discovered gold on the journey to Yellowstone River in 1863 and set up a mining district. They tried to keep their discovery a secret, but word soon got out and flooded the land with prospectors.
For several chaotic years, Virginia City was symbolic of the Wild West. The boomtown had no law enforcement or justice system except the miners’ courts, leading to tremendous criminal activity. This chaos led to the formation of the infamous Montana Vigilantes to bring order to the lawless community.
Today, the Montana Heritage Commission runs the Historic District of Virginia City (and nearby ghost town Nevada City). The historic ghost town is open year-round and features everything from museums to restaurants.
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Also, stay tuned to Garfield Refining’s blog for more fun and helpful articles about precious metals, such as 3 Fun Facts About Gold, How to Sell Dental Gold, and What are Platinum Group Metals?
Written by
Allie BowmanAllie Bowman is the Content Lead at Garfield Refining, where she translates more than 130 years of precious metals expertise into clear, accurate, and practical content for individual sellers, dental professionals, jewelers, and collectors. A Dean's List graduate of the University of Delaware's Media Communication program, Allie has built her career around making complex subjects accessible to a broad audience. Her experience spans nutrition science, lifestyle magazine publishing, and precious metals refining, giving her a unique ability to transform technical information into engaging, trustworthy content. At Garfield, Allie brings editorial rigor and subject-matter expertise to every piece she produces. She works closely with Garfield's refining specialists and senior leadership to ensure that technical topics - from karat markings and assay methods to precious metals markets and spot price mechanics - are explained with both accuracy and clarity. Since joining Garfield's marketing team, Allie has written extensively on precious metals refining, dental scrap recovery, gold and silver bullion, estate and inherited jewelry, and industry-specific topics for dental and jewelry professionals. All content is reviewed by Garfield's leadership team prior to publication, ensuring it reflects the company's standards for accuracy, transparency, and industry expertise.
Reviewed by
Morgan KerrisseyMorgan Kerrissey is the President of Garfield Refining, one of North America's most longstanding and trusted precious metals refineries. For over two decades, Morgan has built his career at the intersection of commodities markets, metallurgy, and precious metals — earning a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable voices in the refining industry. Morgan joined Garfield in 2008, bringing rigorous operational discipline to a company built on exacting standards since 1892. Named President in 2014, he has guided Garfield through volatile gold, silver, and palladium markets, while modernizing its workforce and technologies and diversifying its metal supply chains. Under his leadership, Garfield has expanded its refining capabilities across the full lifecycle of precious metals recovery, entered new markets, and expanded services while maintaining the same customer forward approach that has made Garfield a mainstay for more than a century. From hedging strategy to daily refinery operations, Morgan commands high levels of technical depth and market fluency. Morgan grew up outside Boston, graduated from Harvard University, and has lived with his family in Philadelphia, PA for almost 20 years.