Ghost Towns of the American West

The Ghost Towns — abandoned mining and frontier towns — are one of the most striking traces of the settlement of the American West. No one set out to create them as historical monuments. They simply remained standing because there was no one left to tear them down. That is quite different from a museum.

In Europe, monuments are erected to commemorate what once was. In the American West, they simply left it standing. Not out of sentimentality, but because they had already moved on.

Where thousands once lived, all that remains are wooden facades, rusted machinery and foundations. The photographs show these places as they are today. As something that exists, that is still there, but with a different purpose, stripped of its original function.

To conclude, here is a quote from Wim Wenders from the foreword to ‘Ghost Towns of the American West’.
‘Berthold Steinhilber has not photographed ghost towns. He has captured the spirit of these towns. Places and things are resilient. It is only we who believe they could not exist without us.’