I was just playing around and found a great way to combine love of the Old West with modern, high-tech Google Maps functions for some fun and useful information.
If you haven't used Google Maps, especially the new "Street View" function, you really need to give it a try. I just looked up "Gold Hill, Colorado" on Google Maps. One of the options I saw was "Street View." I clicked on that and suddenly found myself traveling along Gold Hill Road at road level, looking through the trees and roadside rocks as I approached Main Street in this little Colorado "ghost town."
From my understanding, the Google Maps Street View is done by actually sending camera crews through an area in a vehicle and/or on foot to film the roads or streets and all the buildings, etc., that you can see from that road or street. I don't know the digital imaging process or whatever -- but I do know it gives you an incredible look at what is/was going on in a community the day the pictures were made. (In an online forum I visit often, there was discussion of a Google Street View that actually showed -- I've forgotten the state town -- a collision between one of the street view vehicles and a deer.)
If you're sitting at your computer in the middle of a city, or out on a farm, or anywhere between, and would like to venture through the mining towns or any remaining settlements in the Old West, here's one way you can maybe do that without ever leaving your chair.
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 ALASKA GEOLOGIC SURVEY 1907 RECONNAISSANCE MAP WRANGELL MINING DISTRICT $18.00 Time Remaining: 29d 3h 47m Buy It Now for only: $18.00 Buy It Now |
 ALASKA GEOLOGIC SURVEY 1907 RECONNAISSANCE MAP KETCHKAN MINING DISTRICT $18.00 Time Remaining: 29d 3h 43m Buy It Now for only: $18.00 Buy It Now |
 ALASKA GEOLOGIC SURVEY 1907 RECONNAISSANCE MAP KETCHKANWRANGELL MINING DIST $15.00 Time Remaining: 29d 3h 39m Buy It Now for only: $15.00 Buy It Now |
 Practical Coal Mining V1 Boulton 1907 Geology Coalfield map Trial Boring + ills $34.85 Time Remaining: 8d 11h 49m |
 ANTIQUE MAP COAL MINING FIELDS UK c1880s GREAT BRITAIN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY $11.07 Time Remaining: 8d 9h 41m |
 1870s Mining Map of the Golden Rule Mine Eureka Nevada $49.95 Time Remaining: 5d 8h 34m |
 NEVADA GHOST TOWNS MAP DEEK GLADSON GOLD MINING KARL VON MUELLER AURORA HOBSON $74.45 Time Remaining: 3d 4h 38m |
 Alaska Gold Mining Dawson City Dude March 1897 Map Of Alaska Sheet Music $35.00 Time Remaining: 4d 19h 41m |
 VINTAGE STATE MAP VIEWS POSTCARD MINING UTAH GREATEST INDUSTRY 7 VIEWS $1.99 Time Remaining: 4d 17h 26m Buy It Now for only: $2.50 Buy It Now |
 BRITISH COLUMBIA GEOLOGICAL HIGHWAY MAP with all 4 maps NOW RARE mining $12.50 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 4d 16h 57m |
 California Gold Mining Map by Dillon Lauritzen $13.99 Time Remaining: 4d 14h 7m |
 MINING MAP WHITE GOLD DISTRICT YUKON GOLD NEW 2011 $4.99 Time Remaining: 2d 10h 58m |
 Petroleum Industry California Folio Map Edition topography mining edition 1914 $325.00 Time Remaining: 4d 7h 33m Buy It Now for only: $325.00 Buy It Now |
 Ophir Duncan Hill California Mining Placer 1892 US Geological Survey color map $34.95 Time Remaining: 27d 2h 23m Buy It Now for only: $34.95 Buy It Now |
 GOLD PROSPECTING Douglas Stone fossicking mining finding map book metal detector $2.43 (2 Bids) Time Remaining: 7d 12m |
 PROSPECTORS GUIDE TO GOLD IN AUSTRALIA fossicking prospecting finding mining map $14.59 (4 Bids) Time Remaining: 6d 23h 41m |
 ROCHESTER MINING DISTRICT NEVADA 1916 TOPO MAP $9.97 Time Remaining: 25d 20h 41m Buy It Now for only: $9.97 Buy It Now |
 Mining Claims Map West Kootenay District Canada 1910 Original Blueline $50.00 Time Remaining: 1d 5h 50m |
Of course, not all areas -- especially if they are rural or sparsely populated -- will have the street view available. But most areas of the U.S. and Canada have at least Google Map functions and satellite photos of some sort available. So punch in the name of your favorite spot in the Old West at maps.google.com and have a look around!
