This is the Ghost Town hunt coming up in November.
Melmont is a
ghost town in
Pierce County, Washington,
USA. The
town was founded in 1900 when the Northwest Improvement Company, a subsidiary of
Northern Pacific Railway, started the Melmont
coal mine.The town consisted of a schoolhouse, a train depot, a saloon, a hotel (which housed the post office, a butcher shop, and store), and rows of cottages that were used as housing for the miners. Each row accommodated a different nationality, the miners being seemingly self-segregated.The coal was used exclusively for use by Northern Pacific, and when they switched from
steam locomotives to
diesel and
electric models, the economic base of the town was destroyed.
The townsite of Melmont. The field looks flat, but there are several pits and mounds that mark buildings. The large one in the center of the frame is probably the remnants of the hotel or the depot basements, or it could be a crater. In 1905, the foreman's house was bombed by a disgruntled mine worker, but there were no fatalities.
After abandonment, buildings in town not salvaged for construction materials were destroyed by a 1920s forest fire.
Now and Then
Picture of the old school in Melmont
The railway grade used to hike to Melmont, an abandoned coal mining town. In places, it is hideously muddy, especially with the constant rain.
