Swansea, California

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Swansea, in Inyo County, California, USA is a perfect example of a North American ghost town: there is approximately one building. The tourist information office in nearby Lone Pine, California tells travellers to head down the road for exactly nine miles and then stop, for that is Swansea, and the sign is easy to miss.

There is little to see. The population, as of 1998 was four: a rancher and his wife, their dog, and a Mustang.

Swansea grew up as a rich silver mining town and was the point of the ferry across the now dry Owens Lake. Miners would cart their bullion to the shoreline and use the silver bricks to make a temporary hut, in which they would sleep while waiting for the ferry. The remains of a silver smelter can still be seen on the west side of Highway 136 at the Swansea townsite.

Swansea was named after the mining town Swansea in south Wales from which many experienced miners emigrated to the USA.

Prehistoric site of a people long gone. Geologic site of a lake long gone. The hieroglyphics and the beaches can be viewed on the promontory that juts out one quarter mile west of the old pony express station on highway SR 135 10.5 miles east of the 395 junction. Swansea creek drainage is 2,477 acres up lifted up over eons of time forming steep south facing slick rock slopes, metamorphic and old. Ghost remnants of the salt tram (power house, tram towers, old foundations) are there for travelers with a sharp eye to see.