I came across a great faux-ghost-town photo book called empty LA by Matt Logue. As you may guess, the book is filled with photos of Los Angeles minus its inhabitants. Without the cars, you can really take in the beauty of those lovely… superhighways.
You can see some of the photos on emptyla.com and if you really, REALLY love it you can buy it.
The book presents the ideal human extinction depiction where all humans disappear in unison without chaos and damage to the monolithic structures we’ve built around ourselves. It’s worth a look solely to enjoy the pure fantasy of a world that can never exist. Is it a coincidence this book appears in the midst of the 2012 doomsday hype? It appears to be since the photo work began in 2005 and took four years to complete.¹ However the book fits perfectly in the zeitgeist because it parallels other contemporary human extinction myths by implying that the final moment was swift, if not instantaneous.
Eliasville was a little town set along the bends of the Brazos River in central Texas. It all started when the Donnell brothers, Confederate veterans, moved to this bit o’ country from Missouri after the Civil War. Up north, they had operated a gin and mill as well as raised livestock and farmed like most rural Americans of the time. The sandstone of the Brazos and the local farms it irrigated provided a sturdy foundation on which to duplicate their success in mill services. They quickly bagan construction of a dam and grist mill but flooding hampered their efforts twice. In 1879 they procured a U.S. Government Engineer to help with construction and it was soon up and running.
Elias DeLong operated the area post office and general store. With the addition of the nearby mill an urban center was established and Eliasville was born. Farmers from the surrounding area came to the Donnell Mill to grind corn and wheat into meal and flour. The general store and post office provided supplies for life on the frontier and contact with the world beyond the farm. The open gap between the mill and store served as the city center and hosted revivals, circuses and bar-b-ques (as it still does today).
The oil boom of the 1920′s fueled Eliasville’s growth to around 1,500 residents complete with churches, cinemas and three gas stations. But in 1927, the mill was struck by lightening destroying its interior and the Depression only drove Eliasville into further decline. At the onset of World War II, many residents moved north to find jobs in the defense industries leaving the town with around 400. Current estimates put the population in the 70-100 range most of which are scattered along the side roads of the former town site.
The town is a beautiful drive off HWY 16 through hills and pastures and the abandoned homes assure you that you are in olllld Texas. It’s worth the journey to catch a glimpse of the sparkling Brazos and a life most American’s still idealize and once lived.
The Medicine Mounds are a geological marvel in the context of the Texas panhandle. Four mounds rise out of the nothingness of the surrounding flatlands. Accessible only by the unpaved Farm To Market Road 1167 off HWY 287, the mounds are (shockingly) located on PRIVATE PROPERTY! So no adventurous hikes along the hills are allowed, unless by cover of night and risk of buckshot.
These unusual geological formations were a mystical headquarters for the Comanche who once roamed the central plains. They considered the mounds to be the home of spirits that had healing and protective properties.
The mounds also acted as the landmark for the nearby settlement of Medicine Mound, TX that was established sometime in the 19th century. In 1908, the towned moved north for better access to the growing railroad network. This fueled it’s growth to around 500 settlers, however the Great Depression brought that number down to around 210. After the decline of the railroad, a fire and the development of nearby towns like Chillicothe and Quanah, Medicine Mounds’ population bled out and ascended into ghost town legend. The “town” still has two buildings standing though they serve as testament to local history instead of day-to-day function.
Myna Potts, the daughter of the towns grocery store owner converted the buildings into the Medicine Mound Museum and serves as the local keeper of folklore. The buildings she maintains were constructed by here father and his partner after the original town burned in a fire in 1933. She has collected an array of artifacts and knows anything that needs knowing about the area.
If you’re intrigued by the quirks of Texas, or rural America in general, make a stop in Medicine Mounds. It’s worth a gander.
I came across a great faux-ghost-town photo book called empty LA by Matt Logue. As you may guess, the book is filled with photos of Los Angeles minus its inhabitants. Without the cars, you can really take in the beauty of those lovely… superhighways.
