The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

A popular tourist cave with a dark past.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.