20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest The American Experience
Preserved in the desert

When gold and silver were mined in the desert, the town of Calico grew up. Today it is a ghost town that can be found a few miles off the road between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I found it interesting how miners would sometimes build their cabins right into the stone hillside. This "house" had been dug out from the mountainside, which I'm sure gave it shelter from the desert winds, heat, and winter cold. Lower down the hill was an abandoned, weatherworn wagon.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 02.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: Calico, California, United States of America
Camera: COOLPIX P510
Copyright: © Michele Davis