Ghost town

September 24, 2005

When Dan and I drove across the country in the big yellow truck, we stopped at a ghost town in Montana. I have been to several ghost towns throughout the West, all mining towns of one sort or another, but this one was different. Not only were there rangers and a gift shop, there were actual buildings.

There was a hotel complete with furnishings from the time, all weathered and battered and looking their age. There was a jail half sunk in the dirt, and cabins where people had actually lived. Some of the roofs were caved in, some of the walls were falling down, but one could look out over the valley and see the life that might have once been there. The blacksmith shop had various tools and a large bellows, while the general store had rotted tools and rusty tin cans. In each building you could feel the life that must have existed there at one time.

Some of the ghost towns I have visited have only foundations or fields or young trees along with signs to let the visitor know what was once there. This town in Montana stood out because of the physical presence of the structures, the sense that someone might have been there just yesterday…

It also stood out for me because of the fact that I was traveling here. I now live in that town. Sadiola is a mining town. It has a life expectancy of fifteen years give or take. We are now in year nine. That means that ten years from now this town, as I know it now, will not exist. That’s an eerie thought. What will become of it? What happens when Semos is done?

There is a smaller mine about 30 miles down the road called Yatela. It is also owned by Semos. It is about half the size of Sadiola. We have several students that live there. It will close in eighteen months. At that time, they will raze the village, terminate extraneous employees, and move the rest to Sadiola. They are building more houses here now to accommodate the influx.

Both the Sadiola and Yatela mines were built on sites that once housed villages. Those villages were “relocated” to make way for the mine. The landscape has been altered. What happens now? In nineteen months when I visit Yatela, what will I see? In ten years, when I visit Sadiola, what will I see? Will they be ghost towns? If so, what kind of ghost town will they be?

If the buildings at Sadiola are left, what will happen? Will they fall in and become dilapidated, or will the indigenous population move in and take over? Right now there is an eight foot high cyclone fence with razor wire on top surrounding our “village”. What happens when the mine closes and we leave? Will the fence stay? Will the buildings stay?

It’s odd to have this perspective. I have visited ghost towns and pondered their past and now I live in a prospective ghost town and ponder its future.