Ballarat is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It lies at an elevation of 1079 feet (329 m). Today, Ballarat is a virtual

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

. It was founded in 1897 as a supply point for the mines in the canyons of the

Panamint Range The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his ...

. A quarter-mile to the south is Post Office Springs, a reliable water source used since the 1850s. George Riggins, an immigrant from Australia, gave Ballarat its name when he proposed it should be named for

Ballarat, Victoria Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

History

The town was founded in 1897. In its heyday—from 1897 to 1905—Ballarat had 400 to 500 residents. It hosted seven

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francisc ...

, three hotels, a

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

station, post office (that opened in 1897), school, a jail and morgue, but no churches. Ballarat was a place for miners and prospectors to resupply and relax. The town began to decline when the Ratcliff Mine, in Pleasant Canyon east of town, suspended operations. Other mines nearby also began to play out, and in 1917 the post office closed and all that remained were a few diehard prospectors and desert rats. From approximately 1918 until his death at

Trona Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3•2NaHCO3•3H2O) is a non- marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has repla ...

Hospital in 1968 of cancer, the sole resident of Ballarat was Seldom Seen Slim (Charles Ferge). Slim claimed not to have bathed in twenty years except for sloshing water on his naked body while standing outdoors. After the town's

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

building degraded beyond liveability, Slim lived in a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

and house trailer. Slim was the 28th and final person to be interred at Ballarat's

boot hill Boot Hill, or Boothill, is the given name of many cemeteries, chiefly in the Western United States. During the 19th and early 20th century it was a common name for the burial grounds of gunfighters, or those who " died with their boots on" (i.e ...

. He used to say, "Just bury me where the digging's easy." In the 1960s,

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

and the "Manson Family" of killers moved into a ranch south of Ballarat, and left graffiti in the town. The 1969 movie ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...

'' has a scene filmed in Ballarat. After arriving in the town,

Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor. He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda. He was a prominent figure in the counterculture of the 1960s. Fond ...

's character, Wyatt, removes his Rolex watch and throws it away before he and

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in '' Giant'' (1956). In the next ten year ...

's character, Billy, head east on their motorcycles towards

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. On Easter weekend, 1971, about two thousand people attended a "hippy" celebration at Ballarat. About two hundred contracted hepatitis (A) from contaminated drinking water.

Today

Today, Ballarat has one full-time resident. As of June 2013 Rocky Novak and his dogs, Potlicker and Brownie, live in the town. Rocky runs the general store on afternoons and weekends to supply tourists, and is working on repairing the water pipes that supply the town, for which he is paid by the government. Rocky was featured in the 2018 film vignette "The Mayor of Ballarat" by Mickey Todiwala and Monika Delgado. The five-minute character piece features a montage of various Ballarat locations with a voiceover of Rocky describing his life in town and musings on human nature. Ballarat is used as a meeting point for four-wheel-drive expeditions into the

and

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in Nort ...

, and in winter up to 300 people camp in the grounds of the town. The town was recently used as a set to tell the story of the

Ballarat Bandit George Robert Johnston (1954 – 2004), better known as the Ballarat Bandit or John Doe #39-04, was a Canadian-born burglar who gained nationwide attention as he spent the last several years of his life hiding from police in Death Valley Nationa ...

. Ballarat was featured in an episode of

Top Gear USA ''Top Gear'' is an American motoring television series, based on the BBC series of the same name. The show's presenters were professional racing driver Tanner Foust, actor and comedian Adam Ferrara, and automotive and racing analyst Rutledge ...

and the movie

Obselidia ''Obselidia'' is a 2010 American drama film written and directed by Diane Bell, starring Michael Piccirilli, Gaynor Howe and Frank Hoyt Taylor. The film won two awards at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival: the Excellence in Cinematography award a ...

. The town has a ZIP Code of 93592, and is inside

area codes 442 and 760 Area code 760 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 619 on March 22, 1997. Area code 442 is an overlay of 760 that became effective on November 21, 2009. It encompasses much of the southeastern and southernmost porti ...

Ballarat in fiction

Ballarat has featured in

Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...

including '' Hellbound for Ballarat'' (1970) by Nelson C. Nye and '' Bounty Hunt at Ballarat'' (1973) by Clayton Matthews.

References

External links

GhostTowns.com: Ballarat

{{authority control Ghost towns in Inyo County, California Mining communities in California Panamint Range Populated places in the Mojave Desert Unincorporated communities in Inyo County, California History of the Mojave Desert region History of Inyo County, California Populated places established in 1897 1879 establishments in California Unincorporated communities in California

History

Today

Ballarat in fiction

See also

References

External links