Three of my favorite things
I went for a walk in the dry wash this morning; I didn't walk far, as I've been doing a lot of walking over the last two days at the barrel races and the Vulture Mine outdoor museum.
I was concerned about visiting the museum on Saturday, thinking it might be crowded, but I arrived when it opened, and I was the only one there. Even when I left just before lunch, there were still only four or five people in the place. So I was able to take pictures without people in the way.
The Vulture Mine outdoor museum satisfies three of my joys. I love Western history; I enjoy visiting old ghost towns and taking pictures of them is right at the top of my list of things to do. And I am fortunate indeed when all three of those things come together.
theboondork
A picture I took of the moon on Saturday morning, just before sunrise, it shows this phase of the moon, which is known as a waning crescent. The picture could have turned out better, but I was too lazy to set up my tripod.
When Henry Wickenburg discovered gold in the mid-1800s at a place he named the "Vulture Mine," a town developed around the mine, consisting mostly of the people who worked at the mine, their families, and the necessary amenities to support that population, such as saloons, churches, and schools. Mostly saloons. And the town became known as Vulture City, which is now a ghost town.
The mine itself is still operational and continues to produce gold and silver, with parts of it visible between the rusty tin buildings and the surrounding mountains.
If you look at the hill with the buildings on top, at the very top of the hill is where the mining manager lives today, and the house just below that is where the manager lived 100 years ago.
And speaking of where people lived, this is the house where Henry Wickenburg lived; notice how small it is. The most obvious thing to me is the gun ports in the walls.
When Henry lived here, he had to deal with Indians, robbers, and banditos, so holes in the walls to shoot from could be very useful.
There's only one window, and it’s large and low enough to be used for an emergency escape.
The interior of Henry Wickenburg’s house at the mine.
Most of the houses where people lived have long since been torn down, leaving mostly buildings like this that were part of the mining operation and continued to serve a purpose even though the town itself, like most old mining towns in the West, was slowly shrinking as the gold played out and the miners packed up and headed for the next big strike.