Ballarat
As early as 1849, decades before Ballarat was established, a nearby spring provided water to emigrants traveling west. When Panamint City boomed to the north, it became known as Post Office Springs as a can was tied to a mesquite tree for messages. A small settlement emerged, but no major activity occurred until the late 1890s when gold was discovered in Pleasant Canyon. A new eighty-acre townsite was laid out at the mouth of the canyon in 1897, less than ½ mile from Post Office Spring, and named 'Ballarat' after the famed Australian mining town.
Ballarat's favorable, flat location led to its growth to a population 400 or 500 by 1900, with a school, stores, blacksmith shops, feed lots and stables, saloons, restaurants, and two hotels - including the two-story Calloway. It was an important supply center for the area's mines and camp, and stage and freight lines connected it to Darwin and Johannesburg. A new discovery at Tonopah, Nevada in 1901 drew many away, and Ballarat was struck by a devastating flash flood that year. This was followed by the closure of the Ratcliff mine in Pleasant Canyon in 1903; as the largest producer, this quickly brought a decline to Ballarat. The population dwindled over the next decade, but the town refused to die completely. Even now, more than a century later, a few people still live in Ballarat and a small general store and museum operate amid adobe ruins of the old town.
