Caribou City, Visiting a Ghost Town

Not far from us lies an old ghost town named Caribou City. It was named for Caribou Jack, the prospector that discovered gold in 1897 on the mountain top. At one time, it boasted a population of about two thousand people and had thirty-two brothels, gambling dens and saloons.

We have wanted to visit it, but we were hesitant to drive our tuck as we didn’t know the condition of the roads. George and Val have a ford Bronco that has been customized for rock crawling and so they offered to drive us up there.

It turned out that it was an easy drive. The road we took wound along the south side of Palisades Reservoir, (McCoy Creek Road), and then followed McCoy Creek. All along the way mining claim signs dotted the trees and white pvc stakes marked the boundaries of current claim holders.

The road next followed Iowa Creek, another area still mined, before turning up a good gravel road that ended at Cariboo City. WE stopped and read the information signs but you really can’t see much. Much of the city burned down and many left soon after.

Today you must walk around to find a few caved in log buildings. Piles of talus and rusted out pipes is about all you can find as the forest has reclaimed the land. There are still claim stakes and signs so there must be some gold left but at one time there were seven hundred Chinese miners and their ability to recover almost all the gold mean there is little easy gold left.

We collected some dirt from several areas and panned it in a small stream but as usual we didn’t find any gold. We have collected samples in the past from many different areas and except for panning in Alaska. Have never even found any color, (gold dust).

On the way, back we passed two prospectors staking a new claim. To us, the challenging work of mining must be a labor of love and making and selling our jewelry is a heck of an easier way to make money. Still it was a fun day and perhaps someday we will return. Clear skies