Ballarat CA.

  

click photo to enlarge		 Ballarat is another ghost town in California. Wikipedia says "A ghost town is a completely abandoned town or city, often because the economic activity that supported it has failed". We stopped here mostly because we had visited Ballarat in Australia and wanted to see what it looked like in California. It was founded in 1896 as a supply point for mines in the Panamint Range. Between 1896 and 1905 it had less then 1,000 residents and had seven saloons. Saloons were an important part of mining towns. Men got mighty thirsty working in the mines.

click photo to enlarge		 Today there is not much left but a few ruins. Some people camp here. In the 1960s Charlie Manson and his family moved to an area just south of Ballarat. There was also one scene in Easy Rider filmed in Ballarat. Peter Fonda's character Wyatt throws away his Rolex watch before he and Billy head off towards New Orleans.

click photo to enlarge		 Pop kind of watches over the place and there is what they call a museum there. Nice old geezer but I won't say much about the so called museum. The vehicle was left behind by Tex when he got it stuck. Tex was one of Charles Manson's clan. Ballarat Australia has a wonderful attraction called Sovereign Hill, a recreation of an 1850's Gold Rush Era town. It may be named after the town in California but is nothing like it.

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