Once a flourishing desert utopia, the southern California mining settlement of Eagle Mountain was abandoned in the 1980s and now resembles a post-apocalyptic dystopia. The eerie ghost town, which starred in sci-fi thriller Tenet, was sold in April 2023 to a mysterious buyer for $22.5 million (£17.6m). The purchase could signal a new dawn for Eagle Mountain – or a new nightmare if online rumours are to be believed.
Click or scroll on to take a tour of this mysterious outpost, discover why its residents left and find out what the future may hold for this forgotten corner of the world.
Located in the centre of the Californian desert between the Coachella Valley and the Colorado River, Eagle Mountain was established in 1948 to house workers from the nearby iron ore mine.
The mammoth facility, which went on to become the largest iron mine in Southern California and break iron ore production records, was set up to supply the Kaiser Steel Corporation's Fontana steel mill.
From afar, the ghost town makes for a chilling sight. Arranged in neat lines yet succumbing to Mother Nature, the buildings set against the barren desert landscape give off an unsettling apocalyptic vibe.
It may be bleak and foreboding today, but the settlement wasn't always this way.
The man behind the town, industrialist Henry J Kaiser, founded more than 100 companies over his lifetime. He started his empire in shipbuilding, though his eponymous steel corporation was his most profitable endeavour.
In 1945, the tycoon parted with $2 million – around $34 million (£27m) in today's money – to buy the old Iron Chief Mine and its mining rights. While the aging gold rush site had been stripped of the precious metal, it still possessed bountiful reserves of iron ore.
As reported by The Desert Sun, Kaiser decided to build one of America's longest private railroads, a line stretching 51 miles, to transport the iron ore from the mine to the steel mill. The railroad was completed in 1948, the same year the mine and town got up and running.
The most expensive part of the entire project, the rail link cost almost $4 million, which translates to $68 million (£53m) in modern money.
The mining facility, which grew to encompass three colossal open pits, was soon churning out vast quantities of iron ore. The number of Kaiser Steel Corporation workers quickly increased and soon the population of Eagle Mountain had grown to around 4,000.
Relics of the site's industrial past, these crumbling mining structures resemble futuristic scenery from a sci-fi movie, rising ominously against the red mountains in the background.
Old structures from the mine's heyday still litter the outskirts of the town, only adding to the dystopian atmosphere of this abandoned outport. This building is especially haunting, marked by what appear to be scorch marks, perhaps from its time in operation.
It's little wonder that the ghost town is “one of Hollywood’s top disaster-ish film locations”, as the Palm Springs Film Alliance puts it.
The town's most famous on-screen appearance came in 2020 when it featured prominently in Christopher Nolan's Tenet. In the film, Eagle Mountain doubles up as Stalsk-12, an abandoned Soviet-era town in Siberia. The arches pictured here were especially prominent in the movie.
Eagle Mountain has featured in plenty of other Hollywood movies, including Constantine and Battle Of Los Angeles, as well as big-name TV shows such as Top Gear USA.
This concrete tunnel entrance and the surrounding columns feel otherworldly, as though they belong to the surface of a distant planet or a post-apocalyptic future.
After all these years of abandonment, the tunnel infrastructure and mine buildings are unsurprisingly in incredibly poor structural condition. If the settlement were to reopen in the future, major remedial work would be required to make this area safe.
But some structures are in a much better state than others.
Take the mine maintenance shop, for example. The cabinets packed with storage boxes are remarkably intact and the old board for “maintenance safety statistics” that was used to record accidents is still there, propped up against some furniture.
However, if the Kaiser Corporation's workers did injure themselves at work or fall ill, healthcare was one thing they didn't have to worry about...
Eagle Mountain's workers and residents were well looked after. They had their healthcare needs taken care of, thanks to Kaiser’s revolutionary integrated medical care system, which was first implemented at the tycoon's Californian shipyards.
When the plan was launched, it cost just five cents per worker, per day. This translates to 94 cents today, the equivalent of a premium of only $29 (£23) per month.
Healthcare infrastructure in the small town was excellent – it even boasted its own hospital. Unlike peers working for less forward-thinking companies, Kaiser Corporation employees never had to stress out about racking up enormous medical bills.
Known as Kaiser Permanente, the pioneering healthcare scheme is still around today. It's now one of America's largest not-for-profit healthcare plans, with almost 13 million members, 40 hospitals, 618 medical offices and 23,982 doctors.
As you'd expect from a boss as good as Kaiser, his company town wasn't lacking in amenities. For starters, Eagle Mountain's 416 homes were well-built in stucco and plaster, unlike the wooden shacks or prefab structures many workers had to make do with back then.
The properties were kitted out with all mod cons, including central air conditioning, something of a luxury in the middle part of the century. Plus, all homes came with a front and back yard.
This shot was captured by urbex YouTuber Jessie Nino for his channel, Jessie's Drone Adventures.
It might be hard to believe looking at this barren landscape, but Eagle Mountain was a very attractive place to live during its heyday.
Lawns were well-tended and the town's wide streets, which had been given evocative names like Willow Avenue and Mesquite Drive, were planted with palm trees and other greenery. What is now a lifeless plain was once a lush verdant oasis.
As we've mentioned, Eagle Mountain wasn't short on amenities for its burgeoning workforce.
In addition to the hospital, the settlement had three schools, eight churches, a gas station, a small shopping centre, a bank, a barbershop and a beauty salon. The town even had its very own post office, with a ZIP code of 92241.
Residents of the town also had an array of leafy parks, a bowling alley, a swimming pool, tennis courts and several playgrounds at their disposal.
Eagle Mountain reached its peak population of around 4,000 in the 1970s, with 1,500 of those residents working at the mine. It would have been a bustling place, at least for a town of its size.
Life in a small town can sometimes feel uneventful for kids and teenagers, but the younger residents of Eagle Mountain had plenty of ways to amuse themselves thanks to its numerous recreational facilities. The outpost even had an ice cream van, which purportedly roamed the streets on a daily basis, blasting out Elvis songs.
Inhabitants didn't have to worry about crime or bad neighbours, as the community was a close and supportive one, by all accounts.
Instead of keeping themselves to themselves, the residents of Eagle Mountain came together often to take part in fun activities and let their hair down.
The locus of community life was the recreation hall, which hosted many a New Year's Eve and Halloween party, together with countless other gatherings.
However, one such event triggered rumours that Eagle Mountain is haunted. During a Halloween party in the rec hall, a prop dummy is said to have been taken over by a spirit and disturbingly came to life in front of those present, or so local legend has it.
Former residents fondly remember their happy lives in the idyllic desert town. But the bliss was relatively short-lived.
The mine's production peaked in 1975 when it broke industry records. But a long-lasting slump in America's steel industry had already begun and the facility's days were numbered.
Getting a peek inside one of the outpost's abandoned homes is quite a privilege since Eagle Mountain is out of bounds to the public and guarded by security. But some intrepid adventurers have taken a look around the forgotten town at their own risk, including YouTuber Trevor Costelloe, who captured this image.
As you can see, the property has been stripped of its domestic fixtures and decoration, and it's more or less a shell.
Though the homes are still standing, a testament to their robust construction, it looks as though nothing has been done to maintain them.
In this part of the house, botanical-themed wallpaper is peeling off, and what appears to be a door has been broken in half. Across the property, glass and debris litter the floor, perhaps from several boarded-up windows.
The remnants of a mid-century fitted kitchen are visible here, with green walls and cabinetry contrasted against vivid red tilework.
With the world in recession, demand for steel plummeted in the mid 1970s and prices for the commodity dropped. The downturn spelled the end for Eagle Mountain and its blockbuster mine. Losses in Kaiser's steel industry mounted and the decision was made in 1981 to start phasing out the iron ore facility and begin evicting the remaining residents of the town.
“We didn’t run out of ore. We ran out of customers,” said one former resident, quoted in an LA Times article from 1985.
The closure was finalised in June 1983 and the once productive mine fell silent.
A town without a purpose is not a town at all, and by this point, Eagle Mountain was all but abandoned. The last remaining grocery store had closed, as had the post office, and Eagle Mountain's ZIP code had been retired too. While some former residents chose to stay in the vicinity, many moved far away and the community was irrevocably split.
Here's a look at another interior of a home in the town, courtesy of Trevor Costelloe. This property seems to be in slightly better shape than the other house the YouTuber explored.
The lilac-hued walls in this bedroom appear to be in good condition, though the built-in cabinetry has certainly seen better days. We can just imagine the sadness many residents felt when the time came to pack up all of their belongings.
Former resident Vicky Yates told The New York Times in 1983 that leaving the town was like having a piece of her heart ripped out.
During its boom time, Eagle Mountain had three schools. Incredibly, one actually survived and still functions to this day.
Pictured here is Henry J Kaiser Junior School, located in the east of town. The other two were Eagle Mountain High School, also in the east, and Eagle Mountain Elementary School, which was situated in the centre of the community, and currently hosts 28 students.
Approaching the Junior School in the middle of the desert, you'd be forgiven for thinking the property is in reasonably good shape.
After all, the walls and roof are still intact. The exterior, however, appears like it could do with more than just a cosmetic revamp. The worn paint and boarded-up windows are signifiers of just how long the structure has been left to languish.
As recent visitors have discovered, the abandoned school is falling to pieces inside and crossing the threshold is something of a dangerous undertaking.
Most of the ceiling tiles have crumbled to the floor and the large light fittings are hanging perilously from the ceiling. The walls are stained with damp and in need of major structural attention, while the school books littering the ground are covered in layers of dust and red desert sand.
It's hard to imagine this crumbling space filled with students and teachers, as it was back in the town's heyday.
Aside from the stained whiteboard, still mounted to the wall, there are more serious concerns in this classroom. Light appears to be pouring in from the roof, suggesting the space is open to the elements. It may only be a matter of time before the ceiling totally caves in. YouTuber Trevor Costelloe clearly thought as much, since he didn't enter the building, wisely taking these shots from the outside.
Meanwhile, the town's pool looks slightly more salvageable. It would've once been a recreational hub of Eagle Mountain, where residents would gather to cool off from the stifling desert heat.
Over the years, several ultimately failed attempts have been made to revive Eagle Mountain. The first came in the form of a low-security private prison, the Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility. Its opening in 1988 led to a minor revival for the town.
Captured here from above by YouTuber Jessie Nino, the prison was housed in several buildings, including the town's former shopping centre. It accommodated around 400 seemingly non-violent offenders.
The facility opened its doors to praise from the general public for its enlightened approach, which focused on career development to rehabilitate inmates and discourage reoffending. The jail also won plaudits for bringing Eagle Mountain back to life.
The prison's glowing reputation didn't last, however, and in October 2003 a riot started while inmates were watching the World Series in a recreation room.
The melee went on for 90 minutes and claimed the lives of two prisoners. The brutality of the mass brawl – and the fact it was allowed to happen at all – shocked the state and Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility was promptly shut down.
In the late 1980s, a proposal to transform the town into a supersized high-tech landfill site led to a bitter court battle that lasted years as environmental campaigners mounted a series of challenges. The project was eventually dropped.
Plans have also been put forward to create a hydroelectric plant on the site, but these too have been opposed for environmental reasons.
The sole success story has been Eagle Mountain's surviving school. The town's high school was converted into the new Eagle Mountain Elementary School, and it continues to bus in kids from the surrounding area. Its 28 students are taught by three full-time teachers, according to US News & World Report.
A good 40 years after it was abandoned, Eagle Mountain and its mining rights were sold by a subsidiary of the Kaiser Corporation for $22.5 million (£17.7m). The sale was finalised in April 2023. SFGate has done some digging and identified the buyer as a company called Ecology Mountain Holdings.
According to USA Today, the firm appears to be one of a group of companies under the 'Ecology' name that deals with auto parts and recycling. Ecology Auto Parts has a fleet of 600 trucks that remove construction debris and green waste.
The company hasn't commented on the sale and media requests have gone unanswered, which begs the question: what is it planning to do with Eagle Mountain?
Internet speculation has been rife. While some online commenters think the firm will transform the ghost town into a truck park, others have expressed fears it could be used as a dumping ground for construction waste. This would likely have environmentalists up in arms. Other suggestions include a solar plant.
Sadly, none of these options involve revitalising the community and returning the town to its former glory. Only time will tell what the future holds for this former mining town...
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