Touring America's Ghost Towns

One day while James Marshall was puttering around in his backyard, he found an interesting something in his river. The something was gold, and it sparked one of the biggest pick-uproots-and-haul-cookies movements since the big one in the second book of the Bible. From about 1850-1890, "gold fever" sparked a whole new culture in the Western states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, and New Mexico, where towns sprung up overnight and bit the dust not too long after. Touring America's Ghost Towns, the latest release from Questar Video, continues their tradition of quality documentaries with a look at 11 ghost towns. In Grass Valley, CA, we relive the story of singer Lotta Crabtree who became the first entertainer to make a million dollars in America (I've never heard of her either, but remember the woman got gold nuggets, not quarters, for tips). At Murphys, CA, the story of Charles Bolton, a.k.a. Black Bart is retold, and viewers visit Murphys' Hotel (where Bolton worked) which is still in business. In Bodie, CA, which is now a California State Park, gold flowed freely in the town's 65 saloons, and so did bullets to the tune of about one murder a day (and you thought the Bronx was bad). My favorite story is that of the cannibal Alfred Packer who purportedly ate his companions on a blizzardy trek across the mountains. The judge who passed sentence had something more on his mind than mere inhumanity, however, when he told Packer: "There was seven Democrats in this county, and you et five of 'em." Excellent original music, period stills, and wonderful film footage, combined with superb storytelling make Touring America's Ghost Towns a real treat. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (Available from most distributors.)