Mar 20, 2020 Utah Ghost Towns Digital Exhibit

By Ken Rockwell

The newest digital exhibit from the Marriott Library’s Digital Library focuses on Utah’s ghost towns—settlements that have either been abandoned or lost most of their population. There are various kinds of ghost towns, but primary reason why a town dies is that the central reason for its existence disappears:

• A mining camp runs out of the ore that brought people there.
• A farming community suffered natural disaster or was located on less-productive land.
• Company towns that provided housing and services for employees were closed when the company went out of business, or when people began commuting from other towns.

There are other types of ghost towns as well. The Marriott’s large collection of historical photographs includes many examples. See:
https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/ghost-towns/page/Introduction

Remains of old town of Paria