Modern Day Ghost Town
Have you ever driven through or visited somewhere that seemed eerie yet warmly fascinating? Well, last month on my cross-country journey I stumbled upon such a place. The town was Jeffrey City, Wyoming. It was just a small dot on the road atlas, but as I drove through and past the town, I found myself pulling a u-turn to get a closer look. 
Looks like a deserted suburbia
Jeffrey City was a ghost town. It was not your typical "old" ghost town or the "slowly everyone moves away" town. Jeffrey City had modern townhouses, a large school, typical service stations, library, a bowling alley-all closed. I saw one skinny older gentleman wearing an army green jumpsuit smoking outside of one of the boarded-up townhouses, but when I circled around a minute later he was gone. 
One of the several townhouses
I pulled over on the edge of town just past the large empty school to snap some pictures and take a quick walk down one of the desolate city streets. I noticed an antelope was keeping a close eye on me. I wondered if the guy in green was as well. 
The antelope keeping an eye on me
The whole time I was thinking "what happened to this place?" I mean it was out in the middle of nowhere-at least 60 miles from a decent sized town. Which made me think "why was anyone out here in the first place?". I figured maybe some type of mining, but it seemed so much different than the mining towns of Minnesota, the UP of Michigan, and Northern Idaho that I was familiar with. 
The remaining foundation of a one time resident of Jeffrey City
I hopped back in my car, drove back through the downtown snapping a couple more pictures, and then headed off down the highway to try and find a place to pitch my tent before darkness settled in.
I'm glad my car needed no services
I gave the place little thought until I loaded my pictures onto my computer. Even then I just showed Moh the photos and told her about the "weird, creepy place" I visited. It wasn't until today that I had a vision of the town and the guy in green that I decided to Google Jeffrey City to find out once and for all it's history. Here's the story if anyone is interested.
The House of Worship.....Still in use?
posted by BurdockBoy @ 12:22 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
It is kind of creepy - I think the fact that the buildings are modern makes it even more so.
You've got me wondering abut the man in the green suit!
Cheryl:
Yeah the guy in the green suit (more like overalls), must have still been living there. I guess he lived in one of the townhouses. Perhaps he was just old enough to reire and just stuck around.
Too strange. I know that I would be totally weirded out. There aren't many places like that...that have been so recently inhabited. And the fact that you saw one person there makes it a little eery.
It seems like a Scooby Do episode: ghost town, uriam, weird old guy...All you need is the ghost!
Interesting post and article. I wonder what the 40 or 50 remaining residents do. Would they commute 60 miles to their jobs and to get their mail?
Your pictures reminded me a bit of photos I've seen of towns around the Chernobyl nuclear power station - plants and wildlife taking over the town centres.
It sad to read about small town America dispearing.
A good year or so we drove over to Springdale, Washington and main street was pretty well boarded up too.
But I remember when metal prices drop in the Wallace and Kellogg area and they thought it was heading to ghost town.
All town need more then one type of industry to support there community. I recall Bonners Ferry and surrounding area just depend on the lumber business to keep all things a flout.
But ghost town are cool any how!
Wow where is everyone. Funny the thing that looked the creepiest to me is the church? Maybe i've watched too many horror flicks. The Gas station was a close second though. You caught the essense on camera for sure.
carla:
It was definitely eerie. especially because I didn't know its history. The few people that stuck around are definitely determined folk.
nio:
Yeah that was Old Man Roberts. I'm lucky my car didn't run out of gas or I'm sure he would have told me about the Sagebrush Jackalope Monster-part antelope part evil jack rabbit. That was really scared everyone. I'm no meddling kid so I left as well.
willow:
Yeah I guess Chernobyl had something to do with killing this town- a scare of nuclear power drove the demand for uranium down. I'm guessing the people that stick around are retired and don't need to leave that often. Although it's an easy 60 miles. I only saw a couple of vehicles all the way from there to Lander.
Peppy:
I really like Garnett Montana-more of a traditional ghost town.
Those Silver Valley towns definitely seem like they are holding on from slipping into oblivion. I wish the rentals up here were comparable to hat they are down there though.
Maggie:
I wish I would have taken a picture of the school. It was really big. At first I thought it may have been still open because it was so nice. It's a shame that such a nice school sits empty while inner city schools are crumbling.
thanks for that story, seems like there is cheap housing available :)
I just love those pictures.
Oh that is strange, but what an interesting story.
The sense of loss permeates the description and pictures. And the history is unfortunate. Seems like something sinister underlies it all.
I would loooove to visit that town! We have some good places out in PA, but nothing quite like this.
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There scary places everywhere. Though the town is a bit suburban, there is no doubt, once you got a glimpse of the houses for sale in Bonners Ferry, you'll feel like you've already stepped inside the home of your dreams.
I love Jeffrey City. We go camping every year and our uncle was part of the crew that closed down the mine. It's a gorgeous, quiet place.
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