There are many ghost towns scattered over America, mostly reminders of gold and silver boom and bust times. Many are quite well preserved and as such are an important part of American mining heritage. Obviously one cannot go into this subject in any great detail here but a quick look at one of them, Miners Delight in Wyoming,won't go amiss. It was one of the three major communities in the South Pass Historic Mining District. A quick history from Wiki.
Miner's Delight was among the state of Wyoming's first communities. Gold was discovered there in 1868 and with that discovery came an era of gold mining and the establishment of the town of Hamilton City. The Miner's Delight mine was located about a quarter mile west of the town. Boom and bust periods followed the operation of the mine. In March 1882 the mine was completely shut down and not used again until after the turn of the 20th century. The two brief boom periods, 1907 and 1910, were in relation to mining operations.
Today, through historic preservation by the Bureau of Land Management and various university programs and courses, the ghost town at Miner's Delight stands as a testament to the passage of time and provides historians with a peek at early Wyoming life and the gold mining culture. On the townsite are seventeen structures including seven cabins, one saloon, one meat house, one shop or barn, one shaft house, one pantry, one cellar, three privies, and a corral. All of the buildings are constructed of logs or unfinished lumber.
A couple of photos.
South Pass City 1870
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There is no obvious comparison in the UK although in modern context perhaps the infamous D village policy of Durham in 50s. Ghost villages. On reflection this perhaps happened in other coal areas without actually having an official policy.
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.