How silver made Calico a 3,000-person boomtown before it became a ghost town

In California's Mojave Desert, Calico now appears as a quiet collection of weathered buildings surrounded by dry hills and open scrubland. Its setting gives little indication that the settlement once supported a busy mining community. That changed in 1881, when prospectors discovered silver in the mountains nearby and the area quickly attracted miners, traders, labourers and business owners. Within a few years, Calico had developed into a substantial frontier town, with hundreds of mines and a population that eventually reached about 3,000.Its growth was tied closely to the minerals beneath the surrounding landscape, first silver and later borates. But the boom did not last. Falling silver prices made many mines uneconomical, while borate mining eventually declined too. By 1907, Calico had been abandoned. The settlement later returned as a restored heritage site, preserving the story of a mining town that rose rapidly and disappeared almost as quickly.How silver turned Calico into a thriving desert town in 1881Calico's story began in 1881, when prospectors searching the Mojave Desert found silver in the mountains near the future town. The surrounding hills had distinctive red, whit...