Ballarat

The history

A supply town for the Panamint Valley mines, founded in 1897 and largely dead by 1917 — a handful of adobe ruins on the dry lakebed, once home to Charles Manson's crew and desert prospectors like 'Seldom Seen Slim.'

In brief

Ballarat is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. It was founded in 1897 as a supply point for the mines in the canyons of the Panamint Range. A quarter-mile to the south is Post Office Springs, a reliable water source used since the 1850s. George Riggins, an immigrant from Australia, gave Ballarat its name when he proposed it should be named for Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. It has been a virtual ghost town since the early 20th century.

Then & now

My photos

‹›❚❚ Pause

1 / 38

Where it is