Ballarat

The metal placard says:
BALLARAT 3 1/2 Miles

Now a ghost town, Ballarat served nearby mining camps from 1897 to 1917. They produced nearly a million in gold. The Jail & a few adobe ruins remain, Seldom Seen Slim, it's last resident, was buried in Boot Hill in 1968. It had a school but no Church.

Post Office Spring 1/2 mi south is Where the Brier Party, some Jay Hawkers & other 49ers came in the escape from Death Valley in Jan. 1850.

On Sunday morn at 3 AM, March 22, 1908, a car in the Worlds Longest Race, a Thomas Flyer, arrived in Ballarat. It won the New York to Paris race, covering 13,341 miles in 169 days. The car is now in Harrahs Museum in Reno.

Erected 3-92 by Death Valley Escape Trail Conf. Trona Chapter
For more pictures and history on Ballarat go HERE

The grave of Seldom Seen Slim. One of Ballarats more memorable citizens.
At the time we went to Ballarat for the first time Seldom Seen Slim was still resident. I don't remember much about him except that he was an older fellow with a penchant for talk. My Dad recalled his conversations with him as pleasurable though dotted with things he couldn't believe.