In order to fully understand the geographic concept of natural resource use, students should learn about the ways that resource extraction affects the physical and human landscape. In this lesson, they will discuss how a specific economic activity in a region can facilitate the creation of towns, which often turn into ghost towns if the economic activity ends.

Geography, economics, environmental science

Standard 11: "The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface"
Standard 14: "How human actions modify the physical environment"
Standard 16: "The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources"

Two to three hours

• Computer with Internet access
• Writing and drawing materials, including large pieces of paper poster board

Students will

• view and discuss photographs of ghost towns;
• view and discuss a simple simulation of how a mining town might evolve and then deteriorate into a ghost town;
• answer questions about the California gold rush; and
• create posters or booklets showing the "life cycle" of a mining town, from before its foundation to its status as ghost town.

Have students look at the pictures of ghost towns at the following Web sites:

Bodie Photo Album
Ghost Towns of Arizona
Historic Ghost Towns (Colorado)

Pose these questions to the class:

• What do these towns look like?
• Does it look like anyone is living there now?
• Why do students think these towns are called ghost towns?

Tell the class that they are going to be learning the story of how ghost towns are created.

Ask students to name some of their favorite belongings or some of the things they would like to own. They might mention the latest trends in trading cards, video games, sports shoes, or other material items. Discuss the reasons why these items are desirable.

Ask students to imagine that there has been an incredible new discovery: the most popular possession for kids their age has been found to occur naturally underground in some parts of the country. It's a ridiculous idea, perhaps, but ask them to go along with it for fun and for the sake of the lesson.

Take students through the following chronological scenario, asking them to answer the questions in a class discussion. Fill in the blanks with the name of the popular item. You can choose to simply read the scenario to the class, or you can have students help you illustrate the steps on a U.S. wall map and the board. Instructions for illustrating the scenario are provided.

What would happen if __________ were found in large quantities on public land (land owned by the government instead of by individuals) in the mountains of western Wyoming, available to anyone who could find and remove them from the mountains? What would people do? What would you do? What if there were people already living in these mountains—what would they say about the discovery?

Have a student tape a picture of the object to western Wyoming on the map. Other students can draw pictures of how they and the native people might react.

What would be needed if thousands of kids or adults ended up living in the Wyoming mountains looking for __________? What types of things would these people need in order to spend a long time looking for __________? Students should mention that they would need housing, food, and some other basic services and commodities.

Have a student place a picture of a town and some basic human necessities on western Wyoming on the map.

What would happen if, after a few years, the supply of ___________ suddenly ran out or it became very hard to find any more __________? What would the "miners" do? What would happen to the towns and businesses that had sprung up to serve the "miners?" Students should recognize that the "miners" would probably have to leave in search of other work. That means the businesses would subsequently have no more customers and be forced to leave as well, thus creating a ghost town.

Have a student remove the popular object from the map and also remove the services provided to the "miners."

Explain that the above scenario is more or less what happened to many towns during and after the California gold rush. In that case, people headed west in search of gold. Have students read about the gold rush at the following Web pages, and write answers to the questions below. (They might also want to refer back to the Web sites listed in the Opening, as well as searching for other sites on their own.)

California Gold Rush History
California National Historical Trail
Oakland Museum of California: Gold Rush! California's Untold Stories

• Who lived in the California gold region before gold was discovered? What happened to these people once the miners started to arrive?
• How did the miners get from the East Coast to California? Was this a difficult or an easy journey?
• Did everyone who mined for gold get rich? Why or why not?
• What happened to the supply of gold after a few years?

Bring the class back together and discuss students' answers to the above questions. Did students come to the same conclusions? Why or why not?

Have students create posters or booklets titled "The History of a Ghost Town." Their posters or booklets should be divided into at least five sections that use pictures and/or drawings to illustrate

• the location of a future ghost town before any miners have moved there;
• the beginning of the mining industry in that location;
• the heyday of the mining industry there;
• the decline of the industry; and
• the ghost town as it might look today.

Each picture should have a caption describing the reasons why the location looks the way it does.

• Have students use the Internet or an encyclopedia to find out about a modern-day town that is heavily based on one industry, such as coal mining or the poultry industry. Have them report on this town's businesses and write paragraphs describing how the town might benefit from getting some other industries to move in.
  
  
• Ask students to write paragraphs answering the question "Why do some towns become ghost towns?"

Bodie Photo Album
California Gold Rush History
California National Historical Trail
Ghost Towns of Arizona
Historic Ghost Towns (Colorado)
National Geographic: Xpeditions Activity—The Quest for Gold
Oakland Museum of California: Gold Rush! California's Untold Stories