HISTORY OF OLD GHOST TOWNS IS `DYING' ACROSS AMERICA.

Byline: Tina Dirmann Riverside Press-Enterprise

Old and deserted buildings lie in the hills of Bodie. Doorway welcome signs are faded and barely readable. Paint is chipped. Hot winds blow through empty window panes.

To most, the town is nothing but a heap of decaying buildings, uninhabitable by today's standards. But spend a few minutes exploring the empty buildings and walking down the dusty roads, and a whole history of the Old West unfolds.

So says Moreno Valley resident Gary Speck, a self-proclaimed expert on ghost towns. Speck has just written a book on the subject, ``Dust in the Wind, A Guide to American Ghost Towns.''

A building inspector, Speck said he is intrigued by the lives that once filled vacant towns.

``The people who lived here, at one time they had hopes and dreams, just like we do,'' Speck said. ``Then something happened to turn the town belly up.''

The best example is the gold mining towns found in western America, Speck said.

Bodie, for instance, was likely founded around 1860, when gold was discovered. By 1881, the population of Bodie was more than 12,000 and everyone was looking for gold.

``These towns grew up very quickly - entire saloons, stores, the church, everything,'' he said.

A rough and tumble way of living would follow. Gunfights were common (in Bodie, about one man was shot to death every day, Speck said), prostitution was rampant, and saloons were always full. But when the hills turned up dry, the whole town turned ghostly.

Speck, 45, said his fascination with ghost towns began with a family vacation when he was 17.

``My family went through gold rush country in Central California,'' he said. ``I remember that something called to me, and said you have to learn about this. It became my passion.''

Although Speck said he's lost count of how many towns he's explored, he guesses it's between 2,000 and 3,000. Most he finds by word of mouth or through research in a library, on the Internet, and contacting historical societies.

His own research has turned up 35,000 ghost towns in the United States.

``But I estimate there are somewhere around 50,000, total,'' he said.

A ghost town is any town or community that once had a commercial center and is now abandoned, or is ``just a shadow of its former self,'' Speck said. They are found from California to Alaska to Mississippi to New York.

``People think they are only in the West, and that's just not true,'' he said. ``They can be found anywhere.''

Outside of the West, however, Speck said they are usually not referred to as ghost towns.

``You ask for a ghost town, and they don't know what you are talking about. But they can tell you about all kinds of deserted areas, empty buildings. That's a ghost town.''

Speck also writes a monthly column on ghost towns for Western and Eastern Treasures, a specialty magazine for metal-detector enthusiasts. Rosemary Anderson, managing editor for the magazine, said readers love to visit these old towns because of the souvenirs they find - old coins, empty whiskey bottles and canteens.

``This is a piece of Americana,'' Anderson said. ``It is a history that's dying across the country.''