El Triunfo, Baja California Sur

A near-ghost town in the mountains of southern Baja California Sur, El Triunfo was a major silver and gold mining center in the 19th century and contains restored brick chimneys, a deteriorating smelter complex, and adobe ruins across a hillside above the desert. A small museum documents the mining era and the town's former population of thousands. Today only a few hundred residents remain, and the silence of the ruined mining landscape draws photographers interested in desert industrial archaeology.