Spotted a book in the Fiske Library in Seattle: Washington Ghost Towns, by Lambert Florin, 1970, WSU Press. Intrigued, I hauled it back to my table. The index listed 23 different ghost towns! I would never have guessed that Washington had that many. But wait! Doing a Google search for “ghost towns in USA” and then “Washington” I found a list of 55 ghost towns in our Evergreen State!

This was Ruby, Washington, just 13 miles north of Okanogan. Quite a town; did your ancestors struggle to live there? Was it a mining or lumbering town? (Grandma Google knows the answer.)

Thinking ahead to your next summer’s road trip, and if you’re a ghost town nerd, pin that list to your map and away you’ll go!