Utah’s Best Kept Secret – Ghost Towns

Utah’s ghost towns will strike you as something straight out of the Wild West — abandoned streets, crumbling foundations, and buildings frozen in time. Throughout Utah’s history, towns were settled, developed, and grew around mining booms, railroad stops, and agricultural promise. With the depletion of minerals, changing economic conditions, natural disasters, and drought, however, many of these same towns were soon abandoned and left to the dust of time.

History of a Few Utah Ghost Towns

Thistle, Utah — Established in 1883, Thistle flourished as a farming and ranching community and became a major stop along the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Then in April 1983, a massive landslide — the costliest in U.S. history at the time — dammed two creeks, flooding and destroying most of the tiny town. Roofs became rafts and can still be seen strewn about the area. Only a few structures remain visible from the road today, including a red schoolhouse, a church on a hill, and a house half-sunken into a bog.

Mammoth, Utah — Named after the Mammoth Mine, the town of Mammoth came into existence in 1870. For 75 years the mine produced steadily, supporting a community of around 3,000 residents at its peak. Today only a handful of people still call the area home, and the remnants of the old mining town remain scattered across the hillside.

Soldier Summit, Utah — The name Soldier Summit dates to 1861, when a group of soldiers commanded by General Philip St. George Cooke crossed the mountain pass on their way south. Caught in a severe snowstorm, some of the soldiers perished and were buried on the summit — giving the pass its lasting name. The town that grew up around the railroad stop was eventually disbanded in 1984. Today a gas station, empty houses, and crumbling foundations are all that remain.

Mercur, Utah — Once a thriving gold and silver mining town in the Oquirrh Mountains of western Salt Lake County, Mercur boomed in the late 1800s before being largely destroyed by fire in 1902. It was rebuilt, only to be abandoned again as the ore played out. The townsite today is on private land within a modern mining operation, making it one of Utah’s more inaccessible ghost towns.

Bingham, Utah — Bingham Canyon was once a bustling mining town carved into the walls of a canyon in the Oquirrh Mountains west of Salt Lake City. The community was gradually consumed by the expansion of the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine — now one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world. The town itself no longer exists, swallowed by the very industry that created it.

Ghost Town Land and Property For Sale

Did you know that ghost towns and surrounding areas often have land available at surprisingly affordable prices? These properties can be ideal for hunting, hiking, camping, snowmobiling, and off-grid recreation — and in some cases, may hold longer-term potential as interest in rural Utah land continues to grow. Use our custom MLS search below to explore available land and properties near Utah’s ghost town communities.