Calico Shack

This run down, ramshackled old shack stands near the Calico & Odessa historic railway, in Calico the long-abandoned silver mine, out in the Mojave desert. My research leads me to believe that this particular hut is a reconstruction, intentionally aged.

What did this image teach me?

So just how short was this silver-rush in Calico? Four prospectors found silver there in 1881, and by 1907 the whole town was abandoned. Why? Because the Silver Purchase Act of 1890 severely drove down the price of silver, making the town all but worthless.