Ghost Towns of the Northwest

by Norman D. Weis

Sixty-two ghost towns from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are individually described with the history of each town and specific directions on how to find them. Nearly twenty are unknown to the general public. The author has given you a head start in your quest, having explored new angles for information on some of the more familiar ghost towns, or visiting with old timers for an offbeat story or two.

Genres: History, Travel

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Michele Cacano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough exploration of abandoned mining towns and boom towns of the Pacific Northwest states. I was looking for actually ghosts, not ghost towns, but the book met its own goal.

Interestingly, being 45 years old, I am sure that much of what was "still standing" is now fully collapsed, razed, and absorbed back into nature. Lots of black and white photos. Wish there were more photos of the old-timers he spoke with, although several were wanting to stay anonymous, as it was.

I would never go driving and traipsing around these dilapidated places, although the book lays itout for anyone who does wish to do so. It was enough for me to read about Weis doing it--I'll keep my enjoyment of ghost towns vicarious.

[John Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weis takes the reader traveling through the great ghost towns of the pacific Northwest. Many of the areas have not been described in detail before.

A short history of each town is given, often with conflicting stories as told by the local old-timers.

The book leads off with Oregon, and the first ghost town is one I have visited, Sumpter. I took hundreds of photos of the huge dredge alone during my visit last year. The dredge gets a long write-up in the book.

Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana get good descriptions for their ghost towns here. Most appear to be way off the beaten path, far from any paved road.

[Abram · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit that I only perused some sections of this book. Most of the information that I read throughly was what applied to Idaho. It is a little bit dated and some of the fascinating buildings photographed in the book no longer exist or are standing. Well written and a good guide for the weekend warrior of Idaho exploration.

[MatildaWolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm very interested in the history of Washington/Oregon and this book provided a lot of cool information about some barely-known towns in the area.

[Howard Frisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is remarkable and unique about this book is that it is written in the first person. The author visits the locations in the book and describes what he sees and relates the conversations he has with the locals. This is the source of some very interesting anecdotes and stories that are not found in any other books on the subject.

The primary drawback of the book are the photographs. They are all black and white and the production quality is quite low. Many are washed out (low contrast) and very dark or underexposed. Photographs are by the author, but I wished he had done a better job with his camera. This is what makes this book get 3 stars instead of 5. The other thing you need to know is that the book was published in 1971, so all the photographs are at least 50 years old. I visited many of the ghost towns included in the book in 2022 and 2023, and so many of the buildings pictured in the book simply do not exit any more.

That said, the book is still a good buy because of the historical information and anecdotes in the text. The history in the 1800s and early 1900s does not change even after 50 years.