A modern-day gold rush boom was on full display at Calico California Days, a kitschy celebration of early settlements held at Calico Ghost Town, the legendary San Bernardino County mining hub that once pulled in major cash in silver from the desert floor.<\/p>\n
Thousands of tourists took it back to 1850\u2019s at the two-day event over the weekend in San Bernardino County with all the hits: pony rides, gunfighter shows, fabric spinning demos, train robbery reenactments reminiscent of the wild west, and even mock gold mining. <\/p>\n
For those with a competitive streak, the weekend featured the \u201cBeard and Mustache\u201d contest, where the facial hair was as rugged as the terrain, and a horse shoe tossing competition.<\/p>\n
Calico Ghost Town, the legendary former San Bernardino County mining hub. S\u00c3\u00c2\u00a9bastien Closs \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Road sign for Calico Ghost Town with a cowboy cutout and a yellow wagon. Stefania Loriga \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
A man in a cowboy hat, vest, and neckerchief stands before a wooden building during Calico California Days.<\/p>\n
The small \u201cghost town\u201d was once the silver mining mecca of the Mohave, bustling with people who settled in the town in 1881. After the silver market declined in the 1890\u2019s, miners packed up their pickaxes and the town was deserted.<\/p>\n
Calico isn\u2019t your average pile of desert rubble. Bought and restored using old photo\u2019s of the site in the 1950s by Walter Knott\u2013the man behind Knott\u2019s Berry Farm \u2014 it was eventually handed over to San Bernardino County as a living history park.<\/p>\n
Now, modern mining companies are once again eyeing the Calico district, suggesting that the town might have a second act with another silver boom. Three companies helped sponsor the festivities, signaling they\u2019re serious about digging back in.<\/p>\n
Mitsubishi Cement Corporation, Apollo Silver, and Equinox Gold Castle Mountain Mine were quietly front and center at \u201cCalifornia Days.\u201d It\u2019s not just nostalgia fueling the frenzy, and the economics inside the county aren\u2019t old-timey.<\/p>\n
Main street in Calico Ghost Town near Barstow, California, owned by San Bernardino County. Martha Marks \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Old wooden buildings in the ghost town of Calico, California. Maks_Ershov \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Four people dressed in Old West attire posing in front of a building at Calico Ghost Town.<\/p>\n
According to Apollo\u2019s proposed Calico Project, the company believers the area reportedly boasts an eye-popping 180 million ounces of silver\u2013a haul that would dwarf the town\u2019s original 19th century output. Apollo shelled out $5,000 in funding for the event, according to sponsorship agreements reviewed by SFGATE. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is here. Sign up for Morning Report.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the perfect blend of news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Equinox Gold is pushing to dramatically expand its Castle Mountain mine, and reportedly paid $2,500 to support the festival. Mitsubishi Cement Corporation also contributed $2,500. <\/p>\n
With more that 20,000 square miles, the San Bernardino region is rich in minerals ranging from sand and gravel to gypsum, salt and iron. There are around 90 active mines today, including the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine, which has one of the \u201crichest deposits of rare earth elements in the world and is the only site of its scale in the Western Hemisphere,\u201d per MP Materials<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A modern-day gold rush boom was on full display at Calico California Days, a kitschy celebration of early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,6203,4182,17034,3586],"class_list":["post-190805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-gold-rush","tag-metro","tag-mining","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}