Who is cerro gordo

What do I want to accomplish in my life? Underwood thinks about dying a lot. Though in his early 30s, he sometimes sounds like an old scarred cowboy entering his final years, reckoning with death.

I ask him if the isolation welcomes those existential thoughts before their time. Up here I don't have that. A cynical mind may see the last year as nothing more than a perfectly executed marketing campaign. Millions of people across the world are counting down the days to the opening of a very Instagrammable six-room hotel in the middle of nowhere. Underwood also plans on setting up campsites and smaller cabins for visitors. So I think about that a lot.

How will my life change this summer? I could do this for the rest of my life. A town forever defined by greed, murder and fire maybe has a way of holding you in its grip. Sign up for the Sunday Read here. It would be the first of many, many murders at Cerro Gordo. Sign Up for Our Newsletter. Top shopping picks. There's more information about helping the town rebuild HERE. We love making Endless Thread, and we want to be able to keep making it far into the future.

If you want that too, we would deeply appreciate your contribution to our work in any amount. Everyone who makes a monthly donation will get access to exclusive bonus content. Click here for the donation page. Thank you! The original discovery of rich veins of silver was made by a man named Pablo Flores who began mining and smelting operations near the summit of Buena Vista Peak in By , tales of the silver at Cerro Gordo had spread, bringing in flocks of new prospectors.

Businessman, Victor Beaudry of nearby Independence, California, was so impressed by the quality of silver being taken out of Cerro Gordo, he opened a store near the mine and soon acquired several mining claims to settle unpaid debts. He then built two modern smelters and continued acquiring mining rights from debtors until he soon owned a majority of the richest and most productive mines in the area, which eventually included a partial interest in the Union Mine.

Cerro Gordo, circa , from the L. Gordon Collection. In another businessman named Mortimer Belshaw arrived in Cerro Gordo and after establishing a partnership with another stakeholder in the Union Mine, he brought the first wagon load of silver from Cerro Gordo to Los Angeles. Later, he would build a superior smelter as well as the first wagon road up the mountain. Known as the Yellow Road, Belshaw extracted tolls for its use and was able to control the shipments of silver from the mountain.

In the early s, two smelters were erected at Cerro Gordo and one on Owens Lake near the rival town of Swansea. A water company was established to tap and pipe water from springs about six miles away, but these springs were quickly depleted.

All the water had to be hauled in on the backs of mules. Wood was and is scarce at Cerro Gordo. Wood for construction came from Sierra Nevada forests. For now, his cats, goats and alpacas will have to do for companionship. His priority, Underwood says, is to rebuild that town hotel that burned down so he can start hosting paying customers.

And to do my best, I'm willing to give it my all, you know? Story produced by Young Kim. Editor: George Pozderec. A ghost town's caretaker. Please enter email address to continue. Please enter valid email address to continue. Chrome Safari Continue.