a single breath and then it's over

today joe and i headed west to the town of thurber. located right off interstate 20, it's halfway between fort worth and abilene...about a 75 mile drive for us. once we got past weatherford it became a beautiful trek. even though it's essentially in the central part of the state, the landscape in this area is reminiscent of west texas. countless hills, buttes, and cliffs dot the horizon, and the sky goes on forever.

thurber was a mining town between the late 1800's and early 1900's. the entire town (all the land, all the homes, all the businesses, etc) were owned by the mining company, who rented homes out to their employees. when business dried up, so did the town.

thurber is said to have once been "the biggest town between el paso and fort worth," but looking at it today, that seems hard to believe. it's essentially in the middle of nowhere; hills rise up around the town in every direction. in a kitschy attempt to make money and "preserve the history," the town has two restaurants and an antique store, but the town itself appeared to only have two occupied houses.

several old structures remain. the antique store and one of the restaurants are in buildings decades old. an old fire house stands across the street, and beyond it, some sort of old two story house. by the highway is a slightly more recent, but no less abandoned, three story shop; and most impressive, the town still houses an original brick smokestack from 1904, several stories tall.

the town graveyard is worth a trip in and of itself. it holds over 1000 people, but most of these are unmarked. apparently the townspeople used to mark graves with wooden crosses, but a fire destroyed most of them. now, perhaps even more eerily, many of the once unmarked graves are marked with small crosses made of pvc pipe. most of the actual gravestones date back to the turn of the century.

the town was home to many ethnic groups, and the tension caused by this is represented in the cemetery. a monument near the entrance explains that the cemetery was divided into three sections: one for african-americans, one for protestants, and one for catholics. some of the intact gravestones show men born in ireland, and one stone is marked completely in polish.

we also found the rubble of a once grand hotel off the main road in a grove of trees.

on the south side of the highway stands the second restaurant, as well as a museum, a restored church, and a restored miner's house. we were far more interested in finding history for ourselves, so we didn't bother visiting them.

on a somewhat related note, at the top of a large hill just east of thurber stands a castle. it appeared to be private property, and since we were short on time, we didn't check it out. i certainly hope to learn more about it.


































































big, fancy hotel


pictures 12-24-08

a murmur

in november i was sent to colorado for work. naturally i jumped on every opportunity i got to explore my favorite state (so far). i'd only been to colorado once before this...in july of 2005 i stayed four days in a cabin in estes park. this experience was all it took for me to fall in love with the rockies.

i was initially sent to denver. i'm pretty sure this is my favorite city i've ever been to, above even chicago and las vegas. i was also sent northeast, to the high plains area, staying in towns like brush and sterling. other than an elevated altitude, there really is no difference between the geography of northeastern colorado and, say, anywhere in western kansas...which is to say there really isn't much going on. but i was brought up in the midwest, and i know there's beauty to be found in even the dullest places.

by the time i got back to denver again, i fully capitalized on my remaining free time and headed west into the mountains three times. i found that just taking I-70 as much as ten miles west from the end of the 'burbs will put you in beautiful country and within reach of some really interesting places. each time i went west, i headed a little farther out of town, and the results were more dramatic each time.

my first trip out of denver was a short one and took me to buffalo bill's grave. while i'm not an enemy of native americans, i think the concept of being buried alone at the top of a mountain is pretty incredible.
next i headed out to central city. despite the fact that it's basically a tourist trap, i absolutely loved it there. the architecture is all extremely old and the whole town has a wild-west feel that's straight out of a movie. i made sure not to bring much money into the casinos with me. rest assured it didn't take long for me to leave with none of my capital.
upon leaving central city i still had about an hour of sunlight and i decided to head further up the mountain. this was possibly the most rewarding decision i've ever made. about a mile uphill from central city is the town of nevadaville. there are a few houses in town and a few people still live there, but in the downtown area i was completely alone. it has several structures still standing which look to be from the early 1900's, although they have been kept in good condition until somewhat recently. immediately across a large ravine on the downhill side of the town are several abandoned mines. i found myself alone in a ghost town at sunset, on a mountain, surrounded by abandoned buildings. i don't have words to describe the silence, the beauty, and the somewhat calm, somewhat eerie feeling i had. i've spent my whole life wanting to find something like this, and here i was in it.

the last pictures are from an area even further into the mountains, west of denver. at berthoud pass, high up on a mountain in the arapaho national forest, i found myself in nearly a foot deep snow...keep in mind that back home it was still in the 80's and sunny. i didn't even have to try to take good pictures out there...it looked like a christmas card in every direction.






sunset outside of brush, colorado


the final resting place of buffalo bill


central city...i kinda want to live there














abandoned mine outside nevadaville


you can learn alot about a town by it's city limits sign...






note the pressure cracks near the top of the building








main street.


outside berthoud pass



pictures 11-4-08 - 11-9-08