he ghosts of the Grand Encampment Copper District in Southern Wyoming were not so fortuitous. The discovery of copper and development of the Ferris-Haggarty copper mine in the Sierra Madre in 1897 gave rise to several mining towns: Elwood, located just west of Grand Encampment; Battle, atop the Continental Divide; Rambler, overlooking Battle Lake; Copperton, along Haggarty Creek where it crosses Highway 70; and Dillon, named for saloon keeper Malachi Dillon, established a mile from the Ferris-Haggarty mine when its owners refused to allow liquor to be served there.

When the Civilian Conservation Corps built the first highway (now Wyoming Highway 70) over Battle Pass in the 1930s, they removed most of the buildings from the town of Battle. Some were taken to nearby Encampment, and one is now relocated to the Grand Encampment Museum where it is operated as the Battle Miner newspaper office.

For the most part, Dillon's log cabins have fallen to disrepair and the seasons, but at the ghost town site, you will see some of the deteriorating logs and can identify places where others were positioned.  You can learn more about these ghost towns at the Grand Encampment Museum, which has its own recreated town, formed with historic structures moved from throughout the valley.