By 1885, Calico began to look almost civilized. It had a schoolhouse (pictured to the left), church services, temperance laws, a literary society and even a dancing school. By now, news of pure silver the size of fists struck the California mining world and the stampede was on. Soon the town boasted a population of 3500. One observer reported, "Everybody in town was carrying a specimen in their pockets." In little more than a decade, over $13,000,000 of silver ore was produced from the Calico mines. So rich was the pull of silver that ore under $100 per ton was thrown away.

Through the 1890's, however, Calico went into its silver decline. By the turn of the century, the price of silver had dropped from $1.31 to 63 cents, and Calico's great days were over. By 1929, Calico had truly become a ghost town.

The Calico Ghost Town Bottlehouse
Today, Calico is more famous as a tourist attraction than it ever was as a mining town; attracting about 400,000 visitors every summer to this re-created Wild West town that is part historic site, part commercial attraction. In the 1940's, a friend took Russell Knott, then 25 to the decrepit ghost town. Intrigued by the history of the site, Russell proposed to his father, Walter Knott, that the family restore the site and offer it as a campground to the Boy Scouts of America and other service organizations. In 1910, Knott had worked the mines as a young man and ever the entrepreneur, had other ideas.

Through the funds made from the popularity of Knott's Berry Farm, Walter Knott purchased Calico in 1950 with the intent on preserving it. As a young man, Knott had worked the mines in 1910. The original buildings, as in many mining camps, were constructed from adobe brick due to the lack of lumber. Cement and wood has been used during the restoration but made to look as original as possible.

Calico Ghost Town's "Hank's Hotel"
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