The campground where we stayed over the 4th of July weekend was THE BEST CAMPGROUND EVER!  Like too good to be true!  For a low price, we had the whole place to ourselves with FOUR (one per couple) very nice, clean, non-smelly outhouses, fire pits everywhere, flat spots for tents to house hundreds.  I’m telling you, the place was great!

We quickly started to wonder what the catch was so when we saw this sign only a few hundred yards from our wonderful campsite it started to make a bit more sense.

The campsite was very near two old mining ghost towns complete with a cemetery with descriptions of how the miners died.

For example, Ah Sam, the cook at the Montana Mine who was shot by Ah See, the Chinese cook at the Black Mine.  Or Edward Baird who at 60-years old died from a self-inflicted gunshot.  Needless to say, the CODs (“Cause of Death”, CSI lingo) were fascinating as was the entire cemetery.

The gravestones were equally as interesting.  The most ornate were the couple made of stone.

But many were simple wooden headstones with “UNKNOWN” etched into the aged wood.

One thing I really did not understand was why some of the UNKNOWN graves were gated while others were not.  I bet there is a story to explain that enigma.

So back at the campsite later that night, we were not entirely surprised when the following appeared next to the campfire.

And suddenly four outhouses weren’t so important.

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