There is a story about a private individual acquiring an entire town and then embarking on its revival. Something similar happened in the USA: one person bought an abandoned old mining town with all his savings. He is now restoring the old buildings of this semi-abandoned town and inviting people to visit it.
This story is connected to the town of Cerro Gordo in California, USA. Previously, this area was famous for its silver mines, and many people lived here. However, over time, the town became deserted. Now, American businessman Brent Underwood is trying to bring life back to it.
In 2018, Brent Underwood spent about $1.4 million, which represented his life savings, to purchase Cerro Gordo. This town is located near Long Pine in California. Interest in history and Wild West stories has always attracted Underwood since childhood; he recalls watching smoke from firearms with his grandfather as a child. This passion led him to Cerro Gordo, where he settled permanently in 2020 to begin the work of restoring the entire area.
The history of this town is quite fascinating. Its name comes from Spanish and means 'thick mountain.' In 1865, deposits of silver, lead, and zinc were discovered here, after which the area quickly turned into a mining settlement. A large number of people came to work in the mines. At its peak, more than 4,000 miners worked and lived in the town. The silver mines of this place were so important that they played a significant role in including California among the richest silver regions in America. It is said that minerals worth about a billion dollars were mined from here. It is also claimed that the silver from this place helped the prosperity of Los Angeles. According to Underwood, the silver from Cerro Gordo was transported by mules down the mountain, and then it reached Los Angeles. At that time, Los Angeles was not as well-known a city as it is today, but rather a small dusty settlement. The wealth obtained from the local mines played a key role in the development of the American West. However, over time, the history of Cerro Gordo remained on the pages of the past.
Underwood emphasizes that his goal is not just to save the old town, but also to preserve its history. He believes that if this place disappears, the stories associated with it will also end.
Recently, Underwood shared a video of the town on social media, which was viewed over five hundred thousand times. In this video, he showed an area covering about 360 acres. The town has more than a dozen old buildings and a mine shaft about 30 miles long. Underwood is gradually giving a new look to these old places. He converted an old dynamite warehouse into a library, where books related to mining are displayed on shelves made from old mine wood.
Underwood calls this an ideal place to escape the hustle and bustle of the world. The town also has an old brothel called Lolage Pleasure House. It was previously run by Lola Travis. Underwood plans to turn this building into a museum. He notes that the contribution of women to the history of mining camps like Cerro Gordo is often ignored, despite the fact that they conducted their work and business under extremely difficult conditions. In his opinion, Lola's story is special because it provided women like her with a refuge where they could live on their own terms in a mining camp full of drunkards and armed men.
Near this brothel was an old town assay office. Here, minerals brought by miners were tested to determine how much silver they had mined. Underwood explains that miners brought samples from their mines. Employees crushed and smelted them for analysis, and then reported the amount of silver contained in them. Thus, it was here that the miner learned whether he had become rich or not.
Underwood also converted the town's old grocery store into a small museum. Old items and tools found in the mines and around the town are displayed here. Various types of minerals and tools used by miners can be seen. For Underwood, this place is especially valuable because many artifacts of old Cerro Gordo have been preserved here.
The town also has an old cinema. Underwood intends to restore it in the Wild West style. His plan is to turn it into an antique Western theater and hold film screenings there. Thus, the town, which was once completely deserted, is gradually trying to regain its former life.
Underwood's home is also in the center of Cerro Gordo, and it was once the center of the town.
