State atlas · filed under WA

Ghost Towns of Washington

Washington's ghosts are timber and coal company towns — many literally dismantled when operations closed — plus remote mining camps like Holden and Monte Cristo where the Cascades made every economy marginal.

807 sites surveyed across Washington — 6 charted with full records so far, entered by year of settlement. The rest are awaiting verification.

✕Charted — click for the recordSurveyed — records pending

Survey note

The federal place-name archive records 807 vanished or historical sites in Washington — ghost towns, mining camps, townsites, and railroad stops. We chart them a few at a time, as the records can be verified. Every mark on this map is a place that once had a name.

TownYearsLast pop.Classification

Monte CristoSnohomish Co.1889–19070Verified Ghost Town GovanLincoln Co.1889–19500Vanished Place LesterKing Co.1892–20020Vanished Place HoldenChelan Co.1896–19570Verified Ghost Town MolsonOkanogan Co.1900–19300Historic Townsite NighthawkOkanogan Co.1903–19515Verified Ghost Town

Society Pro

See Washington as the surveyors drew it, 1879 to 1919

273 USGS survey sheets from those years cover Washington. Pro lays them over today's map with a swipe between then and now, and adds every mine feature, lost place and mineral site the federal record holds for the state.

11,016mine features

11,081mineral sites

244lost places

273survey sheets

The full survey ledger

Every vanished town the federal archive records in Washington — each with its own record page, verified and expanded over time.

AlphaSpokane Co.ArturdeeSpokane Co.AtlantaSkagit Co.BairdDouglas Co.BeulahFerry Co.BlackrockYakima Co.BlewettChelan Co.Blue TownStevens Co.BordeauxThurston Co.BrookfieldWahkiakum Co.CastlenookPierce Co.CathlapotleClark Co.CebalopPierce Co.CregoLewis Co.DavinFranklin Co.Day CityKing Co.DetroitMason Co.EdendaleStevens Co.EdgewaterKing Co.EntiatChelan Co.EpleyOkanogan Co.GodfreyStevens Co.Grange CityColumbia Co.Harmony Falls LandingSkamania Co.HarveyStevens Co.HazelmereFerry Co.Hillman CityKing Co.HoldenChelan Co.HongkingKing Co.JamesonDouglas Co.KinneyvilleBenton Co.KosmosLewis Co.LatonaKing Co.Little DallesStevens Co.LongviewBenton Co.Loop LoopOkanogan Co.MarshvilleThurston Co.Mason CityOkanogan Co.MatthiesenDouglas Co.MaysLewis Co.McGeesJefferson Co.McLeans OrchardDouglas Co.MonticelloCowlitz Co.Ne'sqhwaqhweSpokane Co.NestosSkagit Co.NordrumKing Co.Okanogan CityDouglas Co.Pacific CityPacific Co.PattersonDouglas Co.Port ArthurIsland Co.ReynoldsLewis Co.RiffeLewis Co.RossKing Co.RubyWhatcom Co.Saint HubertDouglas Co.Samish IslandSkagit Co.SchmidtStevens Co.SeahavenPacific Co.SeaportPacific Co.TheonAsotin Co.ThompsonOkanogan Co.UnfriedGarfield Co.VermontvilleKing Co.Virginia CityOkanogan Co.WaiilatpoWalla Walla Co.Washington ColonyWhatcom Co.WawawaiWhitman Co.Wild GooseColumbia Co.WilmaWhitman Co.ZindelAsotin Co.

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