Rainbow Chasers and Ghost Towns

Spread across the American West are hundreds of ghost towns. Most of these settlements arose rapidly during the frontier days with the discovery of gold or silver, attracting thousands of men and women - the rainbow chasers - before they faded away when the valuable ores were exhausted. Rainbow Chasers & Ghost Towns is the story of a handful of those places and the people who lived in them. With old photographs depicting the towns in their heyday, and diaries and letters documenting the lifestyles of their residents, the book explores the birth and demise of mining towns from Wyoming to California, and the frontier experiences of the people, from prospectors to prostitutes.