Some Books for Ghost Town and Mining Hunting

This is a summary of books that I've found to be helpful in searching for ghost towns or abandoned mines, mostly in Colorado. Some of these may just be on my wish list.

The Mining Camps Speak by Bill and Beth Sagstetter A great and easy to read book with details of what you'll actually find at a mining site and what it is. Oddly they seem to have found it hard to find lots of things that are easy to find, like old Imperial Rand air compressors.

Rust to Riches by Eric Twitty Although a bit of a dry read it is very informative and has great details on mining equipment

Walking Into Colorado's Past: 50 Front Range History Hikes by Ben Fogelberg This is a great book with some excellent hikes. It features a lot a long the front range but also has some amazing hikes near La Junta and other areas. It details some mining info, streams, Native American petroglyphs, and other interesting features.

Ghost Towns of Colorado by Philip Varney A good ghost town book, about 10 years out of date

Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps by Sandra Dallas Another good ghost town book, but 20 years out of date

Colorado Ghost Towns Past and Present by Robert Leaman This was a good ghost town book, if you want to reasearch things that aren't there anymore.

Colorado Ghost Town Stories by Sally Jennings This on my wish list as it looks like it might be more recent.

Ghost Towns, Colorado Style: Central Region by Kenneth Jessen Another book on my wish list, this one is less than 10 years out of date so some of the things that are mentioned might still be there.

Steampunk Wallpaper

My friend and associate the autowitch has had one of his photos of a local sugar mill turned into steampunk wallpaper through creative commons usage.

This one by Chinese photographer sonyasonya is also pretty cool, but it reminds me of prison slave labor.

In other news here's some more steampunk music notes:

The Vernian Process has released another song titled "Crime of the Century." It's currently playable and downloadable from their myspace page. The song is a collaboration with Malcolm Schreeck. It's rather gothic and brooding, and maybe overly repetitive.

Fayettville, Arkansas had some kind of steampunk music festival called the Ravenwood Festival. Abney Park, The Ghosts Project, The Vernian Process, and Voltaire were there.

The Clockwork Cabaret took a trip to Tarboro, North Carolina where a steampunk ball was held. It also apparently had boat races and walking tours. I'm hoping it will be on the Clockwork Cabaret podcast soon.

What's new with steampunk this week

Neo-Steam is a new Korea based MMORPG that is gaining popularity in Japan and China. It takes place in a steampunk environment. The game is starting open beta later this month.

http://radioriel.blogspot.com/2008/06/music-of-caledon-renaissance-fayre.html
describes a Renaissance / Classical music station (that also has pirate shows) that is taking part in some kind of steampunk exhibition in Second Life. I suppose it's considered Victorian.
You can listen to the music here http://music.radioriel.org/ or visit the location in Second Life here http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Life%20Birthday

http://dj-fact50.livejournal.com/227419.html Describes a new collaboration between Allison Curval of "The Clockwork Dolls" and DJ Fact.50. It sounds rather like a synthesized 90s video game to me, but download the theme for "Shades of Violet" and see for yourself.