Time Stood Still by juddx067

Kathy Judd a look at american ghost towns & the modern tourism industry Kathy Judd

Time Stood Still

Written & Designed by Kathy Judd as a part of GDES 4361W: Thesis Studio &Writing at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Published by Lulu, Press Inc. 3101 Hillsborough St, Raleigh, NC 27607 ÂŠ 2014 All Rights Reserved

a look at american ghost towns & the modern tourism industry Kathy Judd

Introduction ......................... 7 Critical Paper .................. 9 Time Stood Still ........ 17

Introduction ...................................... 17 Tourism ............................................... 18 Ghost Towns .......................................... 21 Discussion .................................................. 24 Conclusion .................................................... 32 Bibliography ................................................... 34

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Introduction

his book explores the topic of American ghost towns and their connection with the modern tourism industry in two parts. First, the writer explores and lays out the topic of ghost towns and their current image in an subjective tone in a critical paper. This paper delves into the writerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal interest in the topic and explores the different facets and identifies possible issues and research areas.

In the second half of this book, Time Stood Still explores tourism involved in American ghost towns, a topic identified in the critical paper. It breaks down the modern tourism industry and its different features, as well as detailing the histories of several specific American ghost towns. Finally, it explores the role of nostalgia and authenticity in perpetuating the tourism industry across these towns, and how it helps commodify American history.

Critical Paper

he phrase ‘ghost town’ evokes images of the Old American West. A quick Google Image search brings up broken down buildings, abandoned wagons and vacant railways. Today, this expression is closely linked to a time of gold rushes, cowboys and gunfights, but the histories of ghost towns run deeper. The rich heritage of many towns has been left buried underneath neglected buildings, while the television and tourism industries commodify what once was the American Dream. I grew up traveling out West for a week every summer with my family. We took a car and drove through city after city, seeing all kinds of landmarks and state and national parks firsthand. We almost never took a guided tour unless it was unsafe to go without an escort, such as down a mine or into a cave; we just got out of the car and took in everything we could see. I have seen many national monuments, such as Mount Rushmore, as well as natural formations like the Grand Canyon. Along

the way I have stopped in or driven through many small towns—some ghost towns and some still booming. For my thesis project, I am interested in learning more about ghost towns across America. What kinds of communities end up as ghost towns? How are they perceived, and how does this compare to their factual history? Who owns different towns today, and what is their interest in the matter? How is the town portrayed across different media? Is there any damage being done in the shifted audience perspectives between factual history and the fictional one that tourism and television can create? Over time, we have come to associate the phrase ‘ghost town’ with abandoned mining towns of the Old West. This specific type of ghost town was emptied when its supply of natural resources, such as gold or silver, eventually ran dry. However,

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towns have been abandoned for reasons other than a lack of natural resources. Some ghost towns have had evacuation orders issued due to toxicity or natural disasters. To me, the most curious aspect of ghost towns is that any town can turn into one; the only defining attribute of a ghost town is that it was a once populated community and now lies forgotten and empty. I want to explore the ghost towns of America and discover their diverse histories, analyzing the ways they began to boom and why they eventually failed. Is there is a general rule as to why towns eventually decline, causing them to become ghost towns? Is it a matter of bad geological luck? Is it because of poor urban planning due to either the lack of or too much government intervention? Can we categorize different ghost towns? Is there a way to keep current communities from declining? If these towns have such diverse histories, then why is it that we associate the phrase “ghost town” with

Old West towns of the 1800’s and early 1900’s? I think that the way these abandoned towns are presented to the public affects how ghost towns are perceived and remembered. In some cases, towns remain virtually untouched by modern technology and are historically accurate; others have been updated and restored to a modern version of their former selves. The way a town stands today, and the version of its history that it tells, can be affected by whom owns the town and what their interests are, how the town has weathered up until today, or even how it is presented across different media channels.

Two strong examples of owners affecting the perceived history of towns are Bodie, California, and Calico, California. Bodie has been owned by California State Parks since the 1960’s and has since been declared a California and National Historic Site. It has been kept in a state of “arrested decay” since the state acquired it, meaning that structures within the town are maintained and not allowed to deteriorate any further than when acquired. When you go to Bodie, California you can still walk down the original main street and see what is left of the town, seemingly untouched by modern society since 1962. You can stand and imagine what life was like for those living there when the town was populated. Calico, California, has had a very different history since it was deserted. This former silver mining town is currently owned by Walter Knott of Knott’s Berry Farm of Buena Park, California. The family transplanted some of the original buildings from Calico to their land as part of a tourist attraction. Since then, they have been restoring and modernizing the buildings to withstand the everyday wear and tear of their Knott’s Berry Theme Park. You can also visit some of the original buildings still standing in Calico as well, but they too have been restored and joined by kitschy attractions, such as gold-panning and a ‘mystery shack’ to draw in visitors (Travel and Leisure).

These updates and added attractions cloud the history of Calico, instead showing visitors a false image of the town. One can see how the owners of a town and their interests can play a part in how a townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history is perceived today, but that perception can also be altered by which media channels a town reaches the public through. These channels can include an in person experience,

seeing a documentary or TV special about a town, or even reading about one online.

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Visiting a ghost town in person usually means taking part in the tourism industry. People still living in or around ghost towns like Silverton, Colorado, or Calico, California, need to find a way to collect an income in an area where their main source of economy, such as mining, has failed; many of these communities have turned to the tourism industry. These towns are a piece of American history and represent an idealized way of life, making tourism very popular. As previously discussed, towns can vary widely in how they stand today, whether they are refurbished or in a state of arrested decay. Refurbished towns usually come with kitschy add-ons, like themed restaurants and rides, that can distract from the history of the location, while less modernized towns can speak to visitors for themselves. Think of going to Sea World to see an orca whale versus going whale watching. One experience comes with roller coasters and a t-shirt, and the other comes with the open ocean and observing the creature in its natural habitat. Do the refurbished towns that tend to garner more visitors get across any real history? Or do guests just leave with a post card? If they do not leave knowing any more about a ghost town, what does that mean for the town? Is it just lost even more into the oblivion? Is that a bad thing?

There are many documentaries, be it a movie or TV special, featuring ghost towns. The logo of the show â&#x20AC;&#x153;Forgotten Planetâ&#x20AC;? from The Discovery Channel, a show that sets out to tell the tales of forgotten towns all over the world. These shows use grungy typography, deep-voiced narrators, and sensational expressions to dramatize the histories of these towns, rather than just laying out the facts for viewers. Was Bodie, California, really

as violent Discovery makes it out to be? What is the backstory to this? Is there a written history of people who actually lived there? Should we even believe the producers of TV shows like this? The Netflix comments speak for themselves, this show, and many others like it, is over dramatized and tries to stylize a topic that is inherently interesting, clouding the historical truth.

The easiest way for anyone to access a quick snapshot of a town’s history is to look it up online. On the Internet, one can find articles, photos, and entire websites dedicated to different ghost towns. Some of these push stylization, like The Discovery Channel, and others leave their formatting and design to 1999 and simply lay the bare facts down. Typically, limited photos of each town are available, and those that exist typically highlight Old West towns, graveyards and dilapidated buildings. We are skewed to think of these as grim, violent old places, when they truthfully were colorful communities that existed not all that long ago.

How can we discover the truth about ghost towns in America? How can we change the image that ghost towns currently have? If there is a preserved history to these towns, how can we increase public knowledge through different media channels? In an ideal world, I wish more people could experience these historical sites firsthand, and at the very least that they would easily be able to discover the diverse history of American ghost towns elsewhere.

The show and the topics are in and of themselves rather interesting. However, the bombastic music and the apocalyptic tone of the narration are terribly off putting. The places— which are truly interesting—

I ﬁnd this subject interesting

should have been allowed to

however it’s ruined by an awful

speak for themselves. Not that

apocalyptic end of the world theme.

the experts/engineers/academic

The narrator sounds like he is

interviewees are bad—they’re not.

reading for a Monster Truck Jame of

But the producers clearly forgot that

WWF commercial. Better to watch on

sometimes less is more. Could have

mute! too bad, it could have been so

been truly fascinating; instead just

much better.

truly annoying. Reviews by Netflix viewers of “The Forgotten Planet”

Time Stood Still

he phrase â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ghost townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; suggests the Old West, cowboys, and gunfights. Why does this connotation exist when ghost towns are diverse and culturally rich? There are many ghost towns across the United States whose rich histories are lost on visitors because of the deceptive nature of the modern tourism industry. This paper will explore the tourism industry, including why it is important to various stakeholders as well as industry advertising. It will also look at three American ghost towns, considering their diversity and the image that they hold today. Finally, it will discuss the interaction of the tourism industry with ghost towns including how the industry has manifested itself in different towns, how it is successful, and what it means for the commemoration of history.

Definition 18

he act of tourism involves traveling for pleasure, usually to see new sights and to learn about culture and history; it is an enjoyable activity done outside of one’s normal routine. The Industrial Revolution around the turn of the Twentieth Century enabled the modern world to reach more people, which in turn allowed for more leisure and travel time for the masses. As this newfound tourism industry took off, locations quickly learned to promote themselves in order to draw in tourists and cash in on this new source of revenue (Burkart 7). As the industry became more established over time, it was taken advantage of by rural locations as well as larger cities. Some smaller towns did not

have any other major sources of income, especially those “areas deficient in natural resources other than climate and scenic attractions” (Burkart 61). Rather than rely on an industry such as mining, rural areas started to advertise their desirable weather and beautiful surroundings to bring in visitors. These locations were motivated to promote tourism because they benefit from revenue generated by tourists, such as money spent on hotels and restaurants while visiting. Aside from added income, towns have another reason to have a vested interest in bringing in tourists: their presence can add a higher quality of life for residents. A.J. Burkart, the author of Tourism: Past Present, and Future, notes that, “because of visitor traffic, residents may enjoy a higher standard of public transport, shopping, and entertainment facilities than they would be able to support otherwise” (63). A small town whose main

Natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solid rock sounding board, acoustically perfect, inspired this gigantic, new outdoor theatrein Denverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

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Red Rocks Park.

19 income is generated by a single factory would not have the economy to support multiple movie theaters or shopping centers; but areas that survive on tourism build these luxuries in hopes that they will make their location more desirable to tourists. In turn, the residents of these locations can enjoy added amenities as well.

Advertising

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“there is a need to describe very fully what the product is, and this can be done by producing an elaborate brochure” (Burkart 208). Locations can use their advertising copy in conjunction with a visual display of colors and images that coincide with their brand image. In doing so they are strongly communicating their desirable take on what they have to offer.

n order for the public to know about a location’s tourism attractions, they must be advertised. Burkart explains a twofold advertising strategy: first, a location wants to make itself known as a desirable tourist destination available for travel; second, the location will aim to create itself an identifiable brand image (195). In order to persuade potential tourists to visit them, locations must have something compelling to say about themselves. In advertising, “more humble locales often resort to exaggeration to make up for the lack of the beautiful or the sublime” (Margolies 13). Smaller towns sometimes stretch the truth and use colorful language to transform what they have into something tourists will not want to miss. In addition, what these places are describing to their audience often is not a physical product, so

Definition

y definition, a ghost town is “a town permanently abandoned by its inhabitants, due to a business decline or because a nearby mine has been worked out” (dictionary.com). This definition and many others like it perpetuate the image of ghost towns being exclusively Old West mining towns. They call up pictures of decrepit buildings, gunfights, and cowboys. This image has developed over a century of tourism advertising and has now become synonymous with the phrase ‘ghost town.’ This stereotype does not do justice to the rich, diverse histories of American ghost towns.

There is not a set of hard and fast rules that qualifies a community as a ghost town. By simply saying a community must stand as a shadow of its former glory, a large list of United States ghost towns can be compiled. While quite a few of these are indeed towns from the American Old West, a majority of them have varied histories. These towns all had Photo by Weiser-Alexander unique reasons for their establishment, their once booming economies, and their eventual decline. A few broad categories of existing American ghost towns are: communities built around a mine, whose resources eventually ran dry causing the economy and population to decline; towns built along a once bustling railway or highway that were eventually forgotten once new modes of transportation came about; and finally, towns that eventually became too polluted or toxic to be healthy to sustain life, such as communities built around the

of the town (Weiser-Alexander, “Bodie, California”). This town has been maintained in its original state, while many others have been updated or restored to bring them into the present era.

mining of hazardous materials, like lead or zinc. Once their population declines, ghost towns are either forgotten and abandoned, or they turn to a new source of income like the tourism industry.

Case Studies

odie, California, got its start in gold mining and peaked with a population of 10,000 in the 1870s. After the gold ore in the area was depleted, the town slowly declined until the last Post Office closed in 1942 (Brown Hunt). the ghost town was acquired by California State Parks in 1962 and kept in a state of arrested decay. This means the structures within the town were not restored, instead only stabilized to prevent further deterioration. Visitors can still walk down the original Main Street, taking in the authentic history

Calico, California, was originally a silver mining town, reaching its highest population at 2,500 residents in 1884. When the price of silver dropped in the 1890s the town’s population started declining until the town was completely abandoned by 1907 (Weiser-Alexander, “Calico, California”). Walter Knott of Knott’s Berry Farm of Buena Park, California purchased Calico in the 1950s (Brown Hunt). Knott brought buildings and artifacts from Calico to his land in order to make his business more desirable to visit. Knott has restored and modernized these buildings to fit into the atmosphere of his Knott’s Berry Theme Park, home to several restaurants as well as rides and games. In addition, some buildings still stand in Calico, which have also been restored. To add attraction to Calico, Knott has added activities such as gold panning, staged gunfights, and a ‘mystery shack’(Brown Hunt). Route 66 is a highway littered with ghost towns that once were supported by the business of westward travelers. Today, people travel it and visit these towns to relive the American Dream; one such town is Oatman, Arizona. This town was originally founded as a gold mining town that went on to extract 3 million dollars in gold from the Black

lucrative industry, and once that declined they were left abandoned. After their abandonment, many towns adapted to the growing tourism industry and learned to capitalize on their historical, cultural, or locational features that people find desirable for a vacation. Towns that partake in the industry can have a very planned ‘tourism product,’ or one that is more happenstance (Burkart 46).

Mountains (Hinckley 130). Once the mines started declining in production, the town survived off of the money brought in by the great highway’s travelers. In 1952 a new construction of Route 66 bypassed Oatman, and “within 24 hours six of the seven gas stations in town had closed” (Sonderman 123). Today, the town once again sustains an economy based on tourism, this time from visitors coming to indulge in the re-creations of an era passed.

Ghost Towns & Tourism

host towns, such as those described above, are typically rural or in hard to reach locations making them undesirable for everyday life. These towns once sustained a population because of a

Calico, California, and Oatman, Arizona, both have a developed tourist product, meaning they have aligned themselves with an intentional brand image that they use to draw in visitors (Burkart 46). Calico projects the stereotypical image of the Old West ghost town, while Oatman plays on nostalgia of mid 1900’s Americana. Calling on an existing mainstream image, like that of the Old West town, makes it easier for these places to connect with an audience. Rather than spending their time defining an entirely unique image, they play on motifs that are already familiar to their audience so that they can spend their time delving into the details of their specific town when advertising. Because they are consciously developed tourist destinations, they also have a large volume of amenities, such as restaurants and hotels, that can make tourists feel comfortable (Burkart 44). Knott’s Berry Theme Park houses many buildings originally from Calico. These, as well as those that still stand in Calico, have been restored and

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updated, aligning them with the stereotypical modern notion of a ghost town. They play up the western theme, not only in building architecture, but in added amenities such as their gold-panning attraction (Brown Hunt). These updates were all strategically planned to create a cohesive image that

add to the tourist experience. This image is widely known in popular culture, through media outlets like television, movies, and the Internet, and from a century past of tourism advertising. This is an easy image for them to use to connect with visitors because it is already familiar, so all they have to do is insert characteristics that are unique to Calico.

Oatman strives for a slightly different image. They too have a reconstructed western environment, but they use it to also promote their idealized Route 66 “Main Street” American culture (Hinckley 133). Their history as a mining town is a cornerstone of their culture, so Oatman too calls on the established stereotype of the Old West town, but they also mix in their main street America theme making themselves unique. In towns like Bodie, California, preservation is the first priority and tourism is the second. As Burkart says, “when the tourist product develops without any conscious effort, the market tends to shape itself to the product.” (46). They are more vested in preserving historical artifacts from a past way of life than attempting to recreate it, so in lieu of building up a product around the kitschy front of

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old western towns, Bodie aims to tell its history honestly; in turn, this draws in a crowd interested in authenticity and culture rather than produced entertainment. The town is kept in a state of arrested decay, so landmarks and buildings are not rebuilt or restored, they are left to be interpreted by visitors. Tourists acquire a visitor guide upon entry and lead themselves around the town, only navigating by small metal numerical markers that correspond to their maps rather than taking a group tour or observing staged entertainment (Strazdes 229).

Nostalgia

o matter how developed their tourist product is, every town relies on nostalgia to make them enticing. Ghost Towns that rely on tourism as a source of economy are commodifying nostalgia to help them sell their product. Nostalgia is the longing for a time past, a feeling or atmosphere that is not expected to reappear (Boym 10). It looks back on an enchanted world, lingering on the impossible and mythical return of a physical or spiritual home (Boym 8). In relation to ghost towns, nostalgia is usually for a culture or a way of life that is no longer present. For example, people can long for the Americana of the 1940s in ghost towns

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like Oatman, or the industry and way of life in small mining towns like Bodie and Calico.

decomposing buildings and create their own mental images of Bodieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past life.

There are two types of nostalgia, reflective and restorative. Reflective nostalgia dwells in the remembrance of the past, lingering on ruins and dreaming of another time. Restorative nostalgia works to rebuild what has been lost, reconstructing the monuments of the past (Boym 41). No matter the history of a ghost town, those that survive on the tourism industry today can be split into these two categories: a reflective or restorative nostalgic atmosphere.

Calico and Oatman fit into the restorative nostalgia group, with their reconstructed buildings striving to bring back to life the atmosphere of their boomtown days . Tourists who visit locations like this are allowed to feel like they are in a time period that has passed by walking around in and interacting with a physical recreation of another time. They rely on tourists wanting to experience a mythical atmosphere that no longer exists, which they provide by having restored buildings from the heyday of the highway and recreations of older services like general stores and soda shops.

Bodie is a town that thrives on reflective nostalgia whose ruins have been left for tourists to see as is. Visitors there can look at the destruction that has come to buildings that once housed people or commerce and imagine what life was like. They can read historical information about the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heyday in the visitor guide, and then view the

In addition to restoring physical experiences and businesses, Route 66 tourism as a whole also aims to recreate larger themes. Claudia Heller, author of Life on Route 66: Personal Accounts Along the Mother Road to California, talks about a group

that “sponsors a road trip every year, idolizing the Mother Road as a path to truth and freedom” (16). This group comes to travel the road to indulge in the mythical nostalgia and American identity that the road represents (Boym 34). Ghost towns like Oatman offer the chance for people to do just that, by offering them a physical space for them to travel to and reflect on the larger meaning of traveling on Route 66.

Authenticity

n tourism, authenticity is a measure of satisfaction in a visit. The motive behind a tour of an unknown place is the quest for an authentic experience (MacCannell 593). The more authentic the experience seems, the more a visitor feels they have experienced a different culture or world they had not previously known. However, perceived authenticity in a ghost town does not correlate to the accuracy with which it displays the past (Louisiana State University). All that is needed is a sense of realism that the tourist can feel that they have connected with the past. Dean MacCannell, author of the article Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in Tourist Settings, says that mystification of the truth is required to create a sense of ‘real’ reality; this appearance can be consciously created (591). By having gritty

buildings and a dirt road instead of a clean, modernized atmosphere, a town is priming visitors to expect the unaffected truth from them instead of an engineered experience. This feeling can be employed whether or not a town offers any more factual history than another. While some towns do wish to convey actual history to visitors, they still stretch the truth or reorganize it to make it more relatable and easily understood by modern day tourists. Bodie strives for authenticity by letting tourists come and reflect upon a broken down town, rather than trying to recreate a time past for people to experience. Even though they appear authentic and truthful, tourists do not necessarily leave knowing the town’s accurate history. Diana Strazdes, University of California, Davis Professor and author of The Display of Ruins: Lessons from the Ghost Town of Bodie, states that, “any cultural landscape forms a package of historical and visual

information in addition to predispositions brought by visitors” (226). The decrepit buildings of Bodie are familiar to visitors through popular culture, especially from Western movies; seeing these buildings calls up the predisposed vision of a ghost town that a tourist already has in mind, and this image intermixes with the history that they are experiencing first hand which leaves them with an entirely unique experience (Louisiana State University). Even though they do not directly call upon modern day tropes, tourists still subconsciously call on these images while visiting. Tourists come to locations like this, and even though artifacts are not restored or brought into modern day culture, they project their knowledge and personal histories onto what they see, creating a unique version of the ‘truth.’ In addition to walking through town, visitors can peek into some of Bodie’s buildings and see artifacts

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of the town; what they do not consciously think about is that these artifacts are staged for their viewing pleasure. Artifacts are not organized according to photographs of buildings taken during the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s booming period, but instead are arranged in a way that will connect with modern

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visitors (Strazdes 233). Rather than being entirely historically accurate, the chairs and tables within these buildings are arranged to reflect the image of an Old West town that tourists come in primed with; they correspond to a mid 20th century way of life, rather than late 19th. This allows visitors to more easily imagine themselves within the homes, connecting with the history of the location rather than struggling to understand an entirely different culture.

In contrast, Calico has a reconstructive atmosphere and very little sense of authenticity. This town is clearly not ‘real,’ as its buildings and artifacts have been brought back to life and into the 21st century. While this town does not appear authentic due to its lack of a mystical ‘real’ appearance, it does entertain guests. It does more to perpetuate the Old West stereotype than try to get visitors to reflect and engage in history. These updates and added attractions cloud the history of Calico, instead showing visitors a modernized image of the town.

any ghost towns in America have turned to the tourism industry for a chance at a second life. The history they have to offer is an ideal attraction for this industry because it is far enough in the past that most people do not remember it first hand. This makes for a guaranteed success, as towns can reinvent themselves and exploit their culture for money (Boym 33). The exact history is starting to get lost, and the ignorance left in its place only makes their tourism products easier to sell. Ghost towns are an important part of American history because they are the country’s ‘ancient’ ruins. America is a young institution, and this is all the country has of societies and cultures that are gone and past; it is important to remember and experience them as they were. Most historical artifacts that are left are restored or modernized, the gritty ruins and decay not fitting in with the American self-image (Strazdes 224).

These towns as tourist attractions aim to please and often perpetuate the stereotypical image that has already been created for American ghost towns, the image of the Old West. This is a commodification of American history and culture, and is selling the past for monetary gain. Instead of accuracy, towns gloss over the rich cultural history of a time past and strive to entertain and serve tourists a fun and relaxing vacation.

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Francis Group. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. Margolies, John. See the USA: The Art of the American Travel Brochure. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2000. Print. MacCannell, Dean. “Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in Tourist Settings.” American Journal of Sociology 79.3 (1973): 589-603. JSTOR. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. McMullen, Melissa. Visual Narratives of The Old West: How Arizona Old Western Towns Communicate History to Contemporary Tourists. Thesis. Arizona State University, 2014. Ann Arbor: ProQuest, LLC., 2014. Print. Rhonda. “Calico Ghost Town & Campground.” No Bad Days RVing. Blogspot, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. Sonderman, Joe. Route 66 in Arizona. Phoenix: Arcadia, 2010. Print.

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Vanderbilt, Tom. Survival City: Adventures Among The Ruins of Atomic America. City: Publisher, year. Print. Weiser-Alexander, Kathy. “Bodie, California: A Ghostly Ghost Town.” Legends of America. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-bodie2.html>. Weiser-Alexander, Kathy. “Calico, California: Revived From A Desert Grave.” Legends of America. N.p., 2014. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-calico.html >.