Mining
Hottest Inhabited Place on Earth: Dallol, Ethiopia
The Afar Region of Africa, named for the people who call it home, encompasses Djibouti, Eritrea, and the northeast corner of Ethiopia. A notable...
Turkmenistan’s Door to Hell
Turkmenistan is seventy percent desert – the Karakum Desert, to be exact. The nation is divided into five provinces, the second largest being the...
From Boom to Bust to Boom to Bust: Eagle Mountain, CA
The United States has many ghost towns scattered throughout the West. Most have the same story: A deposit of some precious metal is discovered,...
The Ground is Smoking in Centralia, Pennsylvania
Centralia was incorporated as a borough in 1866 when coal was discovered in the area. Coal mining gave birth to the town and it...
Empire: Abandoned Company Town of Nevada
A company town is a town where all property and services are owned by the employer. For an employer who plies its trade in...
Medical Firsts: The Story of Phineas Gage
The year was 1848, and 25-year-old Phineas Gage was earning wages as a railroad worker in Vermont. His task was to blast rock to...