Ghost towns are best described as former communities where the mines failed or else were closed by their owners because of changing market conditions. During the days of the Old West, the words "ghost town" was not yet in the westerner's lexicon. Any mining camp not "booming" was simply "dead." You might ask, exactly what is a ghost town? It's a town that was once populated by miners or lumbermen or railroad workers or members of a religious commune or by folks belonging to an agricultural cooperative. In short, the reason the town was abandoned was because its economic engine failed.
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