Monte Cristo, Washington - Ghost Towns on Waymarking.com

Like many ghost towns of the Pacific Northwest, Monte Cristo was a mining town that saw a rapid rise and fall in the late 1800s. The area sits about 85 miles by highway from present-day Seattle. Back in 1889, the area was explored mainly by prospectors hoping to find a mountain full of riches. According to ghosttowns.com, it was a prospector by the name of Joe Pearsall who first discovered signs of valuable minerals there in 1889.

Word spread quickly, mining claims skyrocketed in the surrounding area, and the town sprang up from there. Roads were built along the South Fork of the Sauk River for better access. By the time 1895 rolled around, there were hundreds of claims and more than a dozen mines. Two of the major mines were purchased by John D. Rockefeller. At its peak, the town's population reached nearly a thousand residents. From about 1893 until 1896, the town grew steadily and eventually a railway was completed out to the town to help ship the valuable ore back from the five main mines—the Pride, New Discovery, Justice, Golden Cord, and Comet mines. Miners mostly pulled gold, copper, and silver from the surrounding area. Eventually, a large ore concentrator was built in 1894. You can still see the collapsed remains of that building to this day.

According to the Washington Trails Association, Monte Cristo was abandoned by 1907. Unfortunately for the miners, the area's riches were only surface deep. Flooding problems within the glacier basin also caused issues. Many workers left the mining camp between 1896 and 1899, many of them drawn further North to the Yukon Territory and the Klondike gold rush. When funding ran out, the Monte Cristo townsite became a ghost town. There was a lodge that remained open to tourists well into the 1980s, but it eventually burned down. Continued flooding closed the only road into town to vehicular traffic and it remains a hiking trail to this day. Today the site is maintained by the Monte Cristo Preservation Association, and they do an excellent job. The trail was clear of debris, and the townsite itself was free of human garbage except for the cool historic artifacts left behind.

Reason for Abandonment: Economic Date Abandoned: 01/01/1907 Related Web Page: [Web Link]

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