Ghost Towns and Mines

 
 
A short distance north of Keeler is the site of Swansea, a small town that formed around a silver-lead smelter in the early 1870’s. Small piles of rock, slag and scattered debris are all that’s left of the smelter. A stone monument marks the site.


The most prominent feature still standing is a small stone cabin (right). Just five or six years ago, this cabin’s roof was still mostly intact.


The cabin’s walls are a fine example of old-fashioned stone masonry.


Nearby are a pair of odd contraptions, some sort of home-built machines powered by early automobile engines. I suspect they may have been used at one of the local mines. Now they sit rusting away in the desert.














SPNG Stock Car


This former Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge stock is currently in use as a shed in the Swansea area. Click photo to see more images.



Posted August 2012.



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Swansea, CA