Book Review: Ghost Towns of Northern California

Ghost Towns of Northern California: Your guide to ghost Towns and Historic Mining Camps, text by Philip Varney, photographs by John and Susan Drew, Voyageur Press, St. Paul, MN, 2001.

This is a book you have to have in your hand to enjoy the pictures.  It divides the ghost towns into five regions,  These include the Bay area and south Bay, Northern California, and then two on the western Sierra, and a last on the eastern Sierra. 
It proclaims Bodie, California as the gem of the lot.  This ghost town is east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and like most of the ghost towns, was a mining town.  This gives me a goal of someplace to see.  There are many other gold towns.  In fact this book starts with a chapter talking about gold mine discovery in California.  Of course not all the mining was for gold.  There was also silver and quicksilver, and coal and other minerals mined, and ghost towns left as a result.  South of San Jose is New Almaden, and this ghost town is documented in this book. 
There are a few towns that did not start as gold mining towns.  This includes a Chinese town, and a duckhunter, bootlegger town in the Bay.  I visit this town, Drawbridge, almost daily.  It is along the rail route that I take to work. 
One town it misses, and this is most likely because there is not much to see there with the exception of a plaque.  This is San Joaquin City which was along the river about five miles from where I live.  This town once had over 1000 residents.  A considerable amount of history took place there, but there are no structures left standing as far as I know.