Calico Ghost Town, California

Calico in a Nutshell

Every year I receive literally hundreds of emails asking me to put Calico on the website......, ok, maybe not quite that many....., Ok, OK....., I have received only 2 emails asking me to add it, BUT there is no way in hell you can trace one of the two emails to my IP address.

In 1880 Silver was discovered at nearby Fish Ponds and a 10-Stamp Mill was hauled in from the Minnietta Mine over by Lookout City and they started pumping out bullion by 1881. As the silver bars rolled out of the Waterman Mine, interest in the area grew, and rich silver outcropping were found in the area that went on to become the Silver King Mine.
The miners soon put up tents and shacks nearby in what would become known as Wall Street Canyon. A flash flood came thru and wiped out the camp, so they moved up to a mesa above the canyon just below the Silver King Mine, and the townsite of Calico was born.

By 1882 the town was booming and in 1885 the voters passed a bond measure for a school house and the town echoed with the sound of over 100 stamps from the various mills around town. Calico featured a newspaper "The Calico Print", 3 hotels, over 5 stores, various saloons, a post office, Wells Fargo station, and a brothel that operated in the middle of the business district.

In 1885 the Silver King Mine began to layoff workers, but the town was kept alive by the various small mines in the area, but even these mines began to peter out. In 1898 the post office closed and not long after the school closed its doors.

Much of you see at Calico today are recreations of what tourist expect to see at a western mining camp ghost town, but if you look closely you can still find the ruins of some of Calico's original buildings.