rotary furnace - rusted - mercury smelter - new idria

Photos by Tristan Savatier

"New Idria" is a ghost town located in a remote area of the Diablo Range of California, outside of Hollister. It was once a center for mercury (quick silver) and asbestos mining. "New Idria" was at its peak well before the Gold Rush in California of the 1840s and 60s. There are still high levels of mercury and asbestos polution in the area.

If you don't mind ignoring all the No Trespasing posted signs, you can visit an amazing mercury smelter with four large Gould rotary furnances. This smelter was abandoned in the 1970's. All those photos were taken in May 2004.

It is not recommended to drink the bright orange water from the streams in this area, but cattle don't have problems grazing in the nearby fields. Scary! The orange color is said to be iron oxide, not toxic mercury oxide.

Equipment used: Sony DSC F828 (8 Mega-pixel) with 4GB Microdrive.

For more information you can visit the "New Idria" Preservation Project (www.new-idria.org).

UPDATE: "New Idria" is now inaccessible! As of May 2008, approximately 31,000 acres of the Clear Creek Management Area, which includes "New Idria", has been CLOSED by order of the Bureau of Land Management, with official reason stating the danger of the naturally-occurring asbestos in the soil. The road leading to "New Idria" is gated and locked approximately one mile from the townsite, and area is being patrolled by state officials - they will arrest or cite you for trespassing. You can find out more information at www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/hollister/clear_creek_management_... for the most up-to-date news and information.

If you are also interested by urban exploration, i.e. exploring disused buildings and factories, abandoned tunnels, etc, check out www.urban-resources.net, an excellent database of photography books and other resources on this subject.

new idria ghost town

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Amanda

my mom grew up here, and i was looking for some info on this place, great site!

well my friends drove through there yesterday with friends and they were terrfied to get out but want to go back and see if it is really haunted

loupiote

no, it's not really haunted :)

schjlatah

I've been there, but I was run off by an army of skinheads on dirt-bikes. It was crazy. My brother, friend and I were driving along Hwy 33 and hadn't seen a person for about an hour when all of a sudden this guy in full safari garb (looked kind of like Robin Williams in Jumanji) walked out into the middle of the road and stopped us. He asked us where we were going, we told him we were just passing through. Right then about 20 skinheads on dirt-bikes pull up behind him from out of no where. He told us the road was closed. So we turned around and went home. Weird. I'd love to go back just for the weirdness factor, but I don't want to deal with any militiamen.

loupiote

UPDATE: New Idria is now inaccessible! As of May 2008, approximately 31,000 acres of the Clear Creek Management Area, which includes New Idria, has been CLOSED by order of the Bureau of Land Management, due to the danger of the naturally-occurring asbestos in the soil. The road leading to New Idria is gated and locked approximately one mile from the townsite, and area is being patrolled by state officials - they will arrest or cite you for trespassing. You can find out more information at http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/hollister/clear_creek_management_area.html for the most up-to-date news and information.

loupiote

so those skin-head milicia men were actually state employees, it would appear...!

Guest

I would love to go there to take some picture. it is my hobby