Secret Abandoned Ghost Town Eagle Mountain | 400 Empty Homes In California

[Music] unlike other California ghost towns Eagle Mountain never truly died a mystery buyer just purchased the entire California ghost town for 22.5 million dollars and a new chapter has been added to its history [Music] Eagle Mountain is a ghost town in the California desert in Riverside County [Music] 48 industrialist Henry Kaiser Henry Kaiser founded Kaiser Permanente healthcare for his workers and their families and the town had fully Integrated Medical Care System [Music] the town is located at the entrance of the closed Eagle Mountain iron mine once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad then Kaiser Steel [Music] it is located on the Southeastern corner of Joshua Tree National Park [Music] Eagle Mountain is accessible by Kaiser Road from Interstate 10 12 miles north of Desert Center [Music] in 1950s as the mine expanded the Town of Eagle Mountain grew to a peak population of 4 000 residents [Music] it had wide landscaped streets lined with over 400 homes some with as many as four bedrooms 200 trailer spaces and several boarding houses provided living space for Kaiser's Workforce thank you other amenities in Auditorium a park a shopping center a community swimming pool lighted tennis courts and a baseball field [Music] there were several businesses including a bowling alley two gas stations eight churches and three schools in the late 1930s Kaiser built the West Coast's first fully integrated steel mill foreign 1942 Kaiser built such a mill in Fontana California which is located 112 miles west of the Eagle Mountain mine today the Fontana Mills site includes other Mills and the auto club Speedway formerly the California Speedway Kaiser then purchased the idle mines from the Southern Pacific Railroad as a source of high-grade iron ore this was a strategy Kaiser used to utilize Rail and raw materials for an industrial operation in a previously agricultural pig farm area production at Fontana was initiated during the second world war and iron shipments were increased in 1948. a mining town was constructed next to Southern California's largest iron mine it was connected to the Southern Pacific Railroad that ran Southwest from the mine to the Salton Sea and Fontana or shipments to the Fontana steel plant began with five to eight 100 car trains running weekly the mine's 100 millionth ton of iron or shipped was commemorated in a ceremony in 1977. environmental concerns in the 1970s and stiff foreign competition led to a reduction in Iron Outlook and a drop in population to a low of 1980. in the summer of 1980 the mine shut down briefly reopening in September only 750 workers were brought back to the town with an additional 150 with uncertain employment Futures in Indio some 60 miles west in November 1981 Kaiser Corporation announced the phasing out of half the Fontana works and the entire Eagle Mountain mine operation over several years [Music] the population started reducing as layoffs began the grocery store closed in 1982 and the post office which had been active since 1951 closed in 1983. in June 1983 the last official graduating class celebrated their commencement at Eagle Mountain High School followed by the closing of both the mine and mill Mountain experienced a Resurgence in 1986 when the California Department of Corrections proposed a prison for low-risk inmates in the town [Music] the shopping center was converted in 1988 into the Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility [Music] it was in operation until state budget problems and a fatal Riot when two inmates were killed and led to the closing of the prison in 2003 talks resumed in 2005 to reopen the prison facility [Music] in 1988 there was a proposal to turn the gigantic 1.5 mile long Iron Mine into a massive sanitary landfill [Music] trash was to be shipped by rail from the Los Angeles area via the abandoned Eagle Mountain Railroad line [Music] [Applause] due to numerous lawsuits regarding the environmental effects of the landfill the project was canceled [Music] on April 17 2023 the land and Mining site were purchased for 22.5 million dollars by california-based ecology Mountain Holdings thank you it was previously owned by Eagle Mountain Acquisitions one of the few mining subsidiaries that owned the land within the last 40 years it is currently unknown what the company intends on doing with the area [Music] a portion of the Eagle Mountain Railroad was used in the filming of the 1986 movie Tough Guys in a scene where a train is hijacked [Music] other films using Eagle Mountain locations include imposter live from Baghdad Constantine Battle of Los Angeles and tenet [Music] Top Gear USA has used Eagle Mountain at least three times Eagle Mountain serves well as a stand-in for post-apocalyptic movie settlements what do you think of Eagle Mountain should it be restored would you live there leave your opinion in the comments and subscribe to the channel [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Oddly Explorer

Views: 763,773

Keywords: urbex, urban exploring, eagle mountain california, henry kaiser, eagle mountain railroad, desert center california, eagle mountain mine, urban exploration, mojave desert, ghost stories, eagle mountain, southern california desert, ghost town, forgotten place, hidden gems, ghost town adventures, henry j kaiser, henry kaiser liberty ships, henry kaiser building, henry kaiser devil in the drain, california ghost town, imperial county, california housing, moving to california

Id: q4g5wqB2ZqE

Length: 11min 32sec (692 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 05 2023