8 Wyoming Ghost Towns Worth the Drive
South Pass City, Atlantic City, Miner's Delight, Jeffrey City, and four more genuine Wyoming ghost towns. Where they are, what's left, and what they tell us about boom-and-bust Wyoming.
Wyoming was built on boom-and-bust economies. The fur trade boomed and busted in the 1820s-1840s. The Bozeman Trail military forts rose and fell in 1866-1868. The transcontinental railroad attracted dozens of construction camps in 1867-1869 that vanished within a year. The 1860s-1880s gold rushes filled mining camps with thousands of people who left within a generation. The 1920s oil booms and the 1950s-1970s uranium booms repeated the pattern at industrial scale.
What this means for visitors: Wyoming has more ghost towns per capita than almost any other state, ranging from substantial preserved historic sites to scattered foundations that you would not recognize as a town if you did not know what to look for. The list below covers eight that are worth visiting in 2026, in rough order of accessibility and substance.
1. South Pass City
Where: Central Wyoming, about 35 miles south of Lander on Wyoming Route 28.
Boom: 1867. Gold discovery on Willow Creek brought 2,000+ residents within a year. The town served as the Sweetwater County seat from 1869 to 1875.
Bust: Gradual decline from the early 1870s as easy placer gold ran out. By 1900 fewer than 100 residents. The post office closed in 1949.
What’s there: Wyoming State Historic Site with over 30 original buildings preserved on their original foundations: the Sweetwater County courthouse (where Esther Hobart Morris served as the first woman judge in the United States in 1870), the Smith-Sherlock General Store, the South Pass Hotel, multiple saloons and shops, the assay office, and several residential structures. The site is one of the better-preserved frontier mining camps in the Western United States.
Visit: Open daily May 15 through September 30, plus weekends shoulder season. Modest admission. Plan 3-4 hours. Pair with the Esther Morris suffrage history for full context.
Why it matters: the substantive ghost town visit in Wyoming. If you only do one, do this one.
2. Atlantic City
Where: Two miles east of South Pass City on the same Sweetwater County road.
Boom: 1867-1880. Gold discovery contemporaneous with South Pass City; at peak about 600 residents.
Bust: Mining declined through the 1880s; the town largely emptied by 1910. Unlike South Pass City, however, Atlantic City was never fully abandoned.
What’s there: Atlantic City still has a year-round population of about 30 people. The Atlantic City Mercantile (operating since 1893) is still in business and serves food. Several other historic buildings are private residences. The town has the unusual distinction of being a “living ghost town” where the original buildings are still in use.
Visit: Always accessible. Lunch at the Mercantile is the standard pairing with a South Pass City visit. The drive between the two takes 15 minutes on a good gravel road.
Why it matters: the working counterexample. Atlantic City shows what South Pass City would have looked like if a few residents had refused to leave when the gold ran out.
3. Miner’s Delight (Hamilton City)
Where: Three miles northeast of Atlantic City via gravel road.
Boom: 1868-1882. Smaller gold-rush camp; peak population around 100.
Bust: Largely abandoned by 1890.
What’s there: Several abandoned cabins, a store building, and the foundations of multiple structures. Less preserved than South Pass City; more atmospheric for visitors who want the genuine “stumbled across an abandoned town” experience.
Visit: BLM-administered site. Free, no infrastructure, no interpretation. Bring water and a map. Best in late spring through early fall.
Why it matters: the small, undeveloped ghost-town experience. South Pass City is what these sites looked like when they were inhabited; Miner’s Delight is what most became.
4. Carbon
Where: Carbon County, Wyoming, about 30 minutes from Hanna via gravel road.
Boom: 1868-1900. The first coal town on the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming; peak population around 1,000 in the 1880s.
Bust: The Union Pacific shifted coal mining to the new town of Hanna in 1900-1902 when better coal seams were discovered nearby. Carbon was completely abandoned within five years.
What’s there: A few stone foundations, the cemetery (which is well-preserved and atmospheric), and not much else. Most of the town’s buildings were physically moved to Hanna or salvaged for materials.
Visit: Public access via gravel road. Bring water and topographic map. The cemetery is the substantive site.
Why it matters: the railroad-era boom-bust example. Carbon shows what happens when the only thing keeping a Wyoming town alive is one industry, and that industry moves.
5. Jeffrey City
Where: Central Wyoming, on US-287 about 60 miles east of Lander.
Boom: 1957-1980. Uranium mining boom built the town from nothing; peak population approximately 4,000 in the late 1970s.
Bust: The 1979 Three Mile Island incident and subsequent collapse in U.S. nuclear power demand destroyed the uranium market. Jeffrey City lost 95% of its population in approximately three years.
What’s there: A still-occupied town of approximately 30 people in a setting designed for 4,000. School building with no students. Boarded-up motels. A Mormon meeting house with no congregation. The Split Rock Cafe is still open and serves passing traffic.
Visit: Drive-through stop on US-287. The juxtaposition of intact 1970s townscape with near-zero current population is the point. Stop for lunch at the Split Rock Cafe; ask the waitstaff about the uranium years.
Why it matters: the recent ghost town. Jeffrey City demonstrates that the boom-bust cycle continued through the late 20th century. The ruins are 1970s rather than 1880s, but the dynamic is identical.
6. Cambria
Where: Weston County, Wyoming, in the Black Hills foothills near Newcastle.
Boom: 1888-1928. Coal mining town for the Cambria Fuel Company; peak population around 1,500.
Bust: Mine closure in 1928 emptied the town within months.
What’s there: State historic site with several preserved structures including the company office, sections of the mine, and the cemetery. Less elaborate than South Pass City but well-interpreted.
Visit: Open seasonally. Pair with a Black Hills trip via Buffalo or Sheridan (about 2.5 hours from each).
Why it matters: the company-town example. Cambria existed entirely to support the mine. When the mine closed, no organic community remained.
7. Piedmont
Where: Uinta County, Wyoming, in the southwest corner of the state. Accessed via I-80 exit at Lyman.
Boom: 1869-1875. Charcoal-production camp serving the Union Pacific Railroad and the Utah Territory iron industry.
Bust: Charcoal demand collapsed when the Union Pacific switched to coal-fired locomotives. Piedmont was effectively abandoned by 1880.
What’s there: Five well-preserved beehive-shaped charcoal kilns (the structures used to convert wood to charcoal), some of the best-preserved kilns of their type in the West. A few foundation stones from the surrounding town.
Visit: Free, accessible from I-80. Allow 30-60 minutes.
Why it matters: the industrial-archeology ghost town. The Piedmont kilns are remarkable engineering structures and a window into the railroad-era charcoal economy.
8. Cumberland
Where: Lincoln County, Wyoming, in the Bear River area near Kemmerer.
Boom: 1870s-1920s. Coal mining town serving the Union Pacific.
Bust: Mine closure in the 1920s; complete abandonment by 1940.
What’s there: Cemetery (the best-preserved element), foundation stones, the remains of the mine processing facilities. Quiet, dispersed, accessible via gravel road.
Visit: Free, public access. Bring water and basic backcountry awareness.
Why it matters: the western Wyoming counterpart to Cambria. Different mining district, identical economic story.
What Wyoming ghost towns tell us
The pattern across all eight sites is the same: a single industry (gold, coal, charcoal, uranium) supported a population that had no reason to be there once the industry left. Wyoming has more of these sites than most states because:
- Wyoming had multiple boom industries across multiple eras (1860s gold, 1870s charcoal, 1880s-1920s coal, 1950s-1970s uranium, 2000s coalbed methane).
- Wyoming has low population density, so failed towns mostly were not absorbed by adjacent communities; they were just abandoned.
- Wyoming’s dry climate and high altitude preserve abandoned wood and stone structures longer than most other regions.
- Wyoming has a strong state historic preservation program that has formally protected several of the more substantial sites.
The ghost-town tradition is not over. The current 2026 economic shifts in Wyoming coal country (Gillette, Wright, Hanna’s modern coal operations facing decline) may produce the next generation of Wyoming ghost towns within the next two decades. The pattern repeats.
For visitors interested in seeing the pattern in action across history: pair a South Pass City visit with a Jeffrey City drive-through and a stop at the Wyoming Mining Museum in Hartville. The same forces are at work; only the commodities and the dates have changed.
Pinterest-worthy shots
For photographers planning a Wyoming ghost-town circuit:
- South Pass City at sunrise or in light snow.
- Jeffrey City mid-day, the empty parking lots and intact 1970s signage.
- Carbon cemetery with high plains in the background.
- Piedmont charcoal kilns at golden hour.
The Wyoming light is dry and clear and rewards the work of getting up early or staying out late. Most ghost-town sites have no operating hours; you can shoot whenever you want.
Gear for ghost-town exploration
Most Wyoming ghost towns require unpaved-road access or short hikes. Pack the basics:
- Klean Kanteen insulated 20 oz — no services for miles in most ghost-town country
- Leatherman Wave Plus — for fence gates, stuck doors, and general backcountry problem-solving
- Kinco lined work gloves — spring and fall visits at elevation run cold
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated #727 — Wind River Range South — covers South Pass City, Atlantic City, and the Popo Agie Wilderness; waterproof, tear-resistant, UTM grid for GPS. The right map for the South Pass ghost-town circuit.
Related reading on this site
- Esther Hobart Morris and Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation women’s suffrage (the South Pass City connection)
- Lander, Wyoming: NOLS, Sinks Canyon, and the East Slope of the Wind Rivers (gateway to South Pass City)
- Buffalo, Wyoming: the Occidental Hotel and the Bighorn Front (Cambria gateway)
- 9 Wyoming hot springs you can actually soak in
- The Johnson County War: how Wyoming’s cattle barons lost the range
- Wyoming roadside oddities: the Smith Mansion and 11 more
Further reading
- History of Wyoming by T.A. Larson (University of Nebraska Press, 1978, 2nd ed.). Standard scholarly history with multiple chapters covering the boom-bust cycles.
- Wyoming State Historical Society publications, especially the Annals of Wyoming journal.
- Wyoming’s Ghost Towns and Mining Camps (Mary M. Lou Pence, multiple editions).
- Wyoming State Geological Survey mining district histories.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best preserved ghost town in Wyoming?
South Pass City, hands down. The state historic site preserves over 30 original buildings on their original foundations, including the Sweetwater County courthouse where Esther Hobart Morris served as the first woman judge in the United States in 1870. The site is more substantial and better interpreted than most active ghost towns elsewhere in the West. Plan a half-day.
Are Wyoming ghost towns dangerous to visit?
Most are safe with reasonable precautions: stay on established paths, do not enter open mine shafts (Wyoming has thousands of unsealed shafts and they kill people every few years), do not climb on unstable structures. The state historic sites (South Pass City, Cambria) are fully maintained and safe; smaller dispersed sites (Carbon, Bairoil area) require more attention. Bring water and tell someone your route. Most sites have no cell service.
Can I drive to all the ghost towns on this list?
All eight are accessible by passenger vehicle in summer. Several (Miner's Delight, Carbon area) require gravel-road navigation suitable for a sedan in good weather; high-clearance vehicles handle them better in marginal weather. Winter access varies; South Pass City is plowed and accessible year-round, others are closed by snow from approximately November through April.