Man Gambles His Life Savings To Resurrect An American Ghost Town
Whenever someone dreams big and puts their money where their mouth is, they're bound to hear most of the people in their lives call them crazy. The bigger the dream is, the harder it is to pursue. And when the sacrifices made to chase that dream increase, it becomes harder for those who don't share it to see how a person's ambitions could possibly be worth that risk.
And it's true that sometimes, the critics are right, and people risk everything only to end up empty-handed. But it's also easy to lose count of the people who ended up changing the world by chasing similar dreams. So while one man's big gamble is already fascinating, time will tell whether it's actually successful.
The fat hill
As SF Gate reported, enterprising prospectors back in the 1860s had long suspected California's Inyo mountains held a wealth of valuable natural resources.
But while Mexican prospectors called one of those mountains Cerro Gordo — or "fat hill" — before they found anything, they would turn out to be right.
A sudden boom
Shortly after a silver vein was discovered at Cerro Gordo in 1865, the mountain would host a bustling community around its silver and lead mines.
According to SF Gate, miners would bring the silver down the hill with 20-mule-strong wagon trains and move them across Owens Lake by steamboat before taking them to Los Angeles.
Practically building the City of Angels
Although Los Angeles wasn't much bigger than Cerro Gordo when the silver vein was discovered, the mining operations up the mountain brought a staggering amount of money to the city.
As an 1872 article in the Los Angeles News stated, "To this city, Cerro Gordo trade is invaluable. What Los Angeles now is, is mainly due to it. It is the silver cord that binds our present existence. Should it be unfortunately severed, we would inevitably collapse."
The silver money was astronomical
That year would prove to be Cerro Gordo's peak, and according to CBS News, the profits from the town's silver mining would balloon up to $150 million in today's money.
The town grew in turn, reaching 4,000 residents and 500 buildings at its peak.
Greed grew deadly
But while Cerro Gordo was bustling, it wasn't exactly a pleasant place to live. Although the popular image of the Old West is often more violent and chaotic than reality, the mining town all but lived up to that Wild West image.
As Author Roger Vargo told CBS News, "We talk about a wild west town right out of a Clint Eastwood movie."
It fell just as quickly as it rose
However, both the chaos and the bustle would start drying up by 1880, as the silver mines depleted faster than expected and the smelters shut down.
To make matters worse, SF Gate reported that a fire broke out that cleared away many of Cerro Gordo's buildings and its main mine shaft.
A new lease on life
Although the death of Cerro Gordo's silver business would spell its eventual doom, that doesn't mean it became a ghost town right away.
In fact, the 1910s brought a small second boom to the town when zinc was discovered in the hills nearby.
A short lease
However, this boom would prove as short-lived as the one that brought the town to prominence in the first place.
Because by 1938, Cerro Gordo would see its last resident leave and officially become a ghost town.
Private ownership
In the decades since that happened, the town has been privately owned and changed hands multiple times before hostel owner Brent Underwood became aware of it in 2018.
Underwood wrote in an article for The Guardian that an impromptu 2 am text from a friend started him on a journey to which he's now devoting his life.
Meeting Brent Underwood
Born in Tampa, Florida, Underwood told The Guardian about his entrepreneurial spirit and his success at running a traveler's hostel in Austin, Texas. He also derived a lot of joy from the fact that it was built in 1892.
In his words, "I've always liked that combination of hospitality and history. But I was 30 years old, the hostel was doing well, and I was looking for a project that was more of a challenge."
Not his first time in the spotlight
According to SF Gate, Underwood has a knack for attracting publicity. In 2016, he decided to see how easy it was to become a number one best-seller on Amazon by self-publishing a book that consisted only of a picture of his foot.
The stunt ended up generating enough media attention to compel Amazon to change its algorithm for determining best-selling books.
A big dream
After seeing Cerro Gordo for the first time, Underwood was so in love with the idea of people staying there for an Old West experience that he became willing to make it happen himself.
As he told CBS News, "I used to watch Gunsmoke as a kid. My grandfather had dementia and would watch it on repeat."
Easier said than done
Before the year was out, Underwood had committed to buying the ghost town. But the first major problem arose before he even started.
As he told CBS News, "It was $1.4 million; I didn't have anywhere close to that much, but I had enough to put down the earnest money deposit. So it was, 'Let's secure this thing, and let's figure out the rest later.'"
Risking it all
As he wrote in The Guardian, Underwood gathered all his life savings and convinced his business partner Jon Bier and some other investors to help make his dream a reality.
But at first, he hadn't intended to move out there.
His reputation preceded him
Due to his outsider status and history of publicity stunts, some in the nearest town characterized Underwood as a hobbyist with a trust fund.
But as he told SF Gate, "It's not a get-rich-quick scheme, I'm not flipping the place. I'm like, here."
Meeting Robert
While Underwood waited for building permits, laborers, and materials to begin renovating the town, Cerro Gordo remained under the watchful eye of its caretaker of 21 years, Robert.
Since it wasn't unheard of for strangers to see what they could pick from the ghost town, Robert's job was to keep them away.
A not-so-short stay
But when the events of 2020 loomed, Robert called Underwood to ask if he could keep an eye on Cerro Gordo.
SF Gate reported that Underwood's Austin hostel had to shut its doors that year, which freed up his schedule to do as asked. Underwood anticipated staying for a maximum of two weeks.
He couldn't leave if he wanted to
However, Underwood arrived at Cerro Gordo right as a severe snowstorm was underway. So severe, in fact, that his truck became stuck in the snow about 500 yards from the ghost town.
As he wrote in The Guardian, "I left it in the middle of the single-lane road and walked the rest of the way."
Roughing it
Underwood went on to say that it would snow heavily for the next ten days, and the snowfall reached the point that he could barely open his front door.
While Cerro Gordo had electricity, it didn't have running water. And since Underwood had only packed enough food for a couple of weeks, feeding himself also presented a problem.
Robert was prepared
It turned out Robert had left a large supply of canned food before he headed back to Arizona, which meant Underwood was able to sustain his extended stay.
In Underwood's words, "I've eaten a lot of out-of-date beans."
But he didn't want to leave anyway
According to SF Gate, the whiplash that came with his new standard of living gave way after about a week. In its place was an unexpected journey of self-discovery for Underwood.
He said, "I found all these new passions and interests that I didn't know I had."
New interests flourish
In addition to photographing the stars, Underwood has spent much of his free time uncovering artifacts from the town's rich history and exploring its former mine shafts.
He's also been documenting his experiences on YouTube and TikTok, where he has since amassed over 1.5 million subscribers and 3.1 million followers.
Disaster strikes
According to SF Gate, the most historic of Cerro Gordo's 22 buildings was the American Hotel, which is was reportedly California's oldest hotel east of the Sierra Nevada.
Sadly, Underwood was devastated to discover that the hotel burned down after 2 am on June 15th, 2020. According to one of his YouTube videos, the fire was believed to be electrical in nature and possibly caused by local rodents.
Refusing to give up
About a year after the fire, Underwood started the ongoing process of rebuilding the American Hotel with the arduous task of pouring 80 yards of concrete for the foundation.
As with many aspects of his restoration efforts thus far, the only thing matching the difficulty of the tasks ahead of Underwood is his persistence in seeing them through.
Learning on the job
Since much of Underwood's previous experience is in marketing and management, he's had to learn the ins and outs of building the hard way.
As he told CBS News, "I'm learning on the job. On-the-job training, if you will."
A multi-purpose ghost town
Although Underwood had always envisioned the finished project as a tourist destination, he and his partners see a cornucopia of potential uses for Cerro Gordo.
As SF Gate outlined, tourists will share the space with special workshop groups, corporate retreats, and film productions.
A groundswell of interest
Thanks to the popularity of Underwood's videos, Cerro Gordo is already receiving visitors despite the fact that the work on it has yet to be finished.
And while they're usually not as famous as Jeff Goldblum, some have apparently volunteered to spend a little time helping out.
Still mostly alone
But as CBS News reported, even Underwood's most enthusiastic supporters eventually leave. And while he has some companionship in the form of cats, goats, and alpacas, he is the only human living in Cerro Gordo full-time.
Underwood says, "People think that it's a really lonely place, and it can be. But I think to combat that, I remind myself that a lot of people are lonely in the past year."
It gets a little spooky
Given the grim reality of life in Cerro Gordo when it was booming, it's no surprise that the specter of death would also continue to haunt the town's atmosphere. The American Hotel had bullet holes and old blood stains on the walls when it still stood, and about 1,300 graves remain in the cemetery.
As Underwood wrote in The Guardian, "I found a huge VHS collection left by the previous owners, including a copy of The Shining. I can't bring myself to watch it."
In for the long haul
But no matter what happens to Cerro Gordo, Underwood has grown to love it and plans to stay there for a long time.
As he told CBS News, "During my time up here, my parents sold my childhood home, and so when people ask me what's home now, it's Cerro Gordo."
