Calico

Book excerpt: Calico was established in 1881 during one of the largest silver strikes ever recorded in California. At its peak (1887-1896), the town's population was about 1,200, and Main Street bustled with saloons, hotels, a post office, and a one-room schoolhouse that doubled as a church on Sundays. Historians generally agree that Calico was dead by 1904, but the town always had a small population that simply refused to give up. Authentically restored by Walter Knott in the 1950s, Calico survives as one of the few "living" ghost towns from the Old West era. The images in this book cover 130 years in Calico's life. Although presented in black-and-white, the stories they tell are as colorful as the surrounding hills that gave Calico its name.