the empire saloon (2023) (Patreon)

Well, I had caught up on all my work for the weekend, cleaned the house a bit, and fixed my Camry's brakes finally, so I decided yesterday I would take another excursion to the middle of nowhere to see if I could replicate the success I had in Bannack, MT. Yesterday's trip would also put a significant amount of mileage on the Camry for the first time since everything's supposedly been working, which would be a good way to find out if it would, like, actually work. 

I drove to the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park, which contains two ghost towns founded in the late 1870s and a preserved 1950s gold dredge within it (along with a bunch of campgrounds, very good hiking trails, etc.) My two main goals were Custer, Idaho, and Bayhorse, Idaho. This shot is from Custer, where the Forest service has preserved a handful of buildings and fully restored two of them: this saloon, which serves as a gift shop, and the schoolhouse, which is an informational and historical exhibition. 

Custer (elevation 6,470') was founded in 1879 as the base of operations for local gold mines. By 1896, it had reached its maximum population of 600; by 1910 it was completely empty. The area and its seven remaining buildings were included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, and the Forest Service has operated the town since then. 

The goal for this shoot was simply to see if I could continue the series from Bannack in a way that felt interesting and different while carrying on the same themes; I purposely chose an outfit that suggests a level of fantasy to make it obvious I am imagining a better past, not the actual past. I think it works fairly well. (I'll post more photos and about this concept in the coming days.) 

Best part is that my Camry worked great the whole time!