Lumber Ghosts: A Travel Guide to the Historic Lumber Towns of the Pacific Northwest

I am very satisfied with the purchase of this book. Not only does it contain a wealth of information on rarely-covered subject matter, it's a good read. Descriptions of the ghost towns are kept short, simple and sweet. Make no mistake the book is a driving guide. The descriptions of the towns are there to merely whet the appetite, and increase the reader's eagerness to explore the ruins. I imagine this can be a little frustrating to someone who does not live in the Pacific Northwest. Some of the towns described in the book are so small and so forgotten that a thorough web search on their location and history sometimes turns up nothing. Genealogists and other researchers may be thrilled that the book covers a mysterious town, only to be disappointed by the lack of citations/references and completely absent bibliography. While a researcher may find nuggets of information about a place in this book, it is extremely hard to verify it with another source. The author explains vaguely that much of the information comes from libraries, county offices and museums. This doesn't help a researcher much. The driving directions are mostly accurate and simple to follow. Hand-drawn maps with mileage estimates help a person to organize a trip. The book is now almost 20 years removed from date of publication. Even if the photographs of many sites do not reflect current conditions their presence helps one to visualize what once existed. In fact, identification of original structures with updated siding or remodeling can be done with the aid of the book. Apart from the bibliography issue, the book is awarded 4 stars instead of 5 because there should be more pictures and drawings. Some of the sites have no visible remains apart from foundations. Drawings and photos of the sites, even as they appeared at the time of publication (1991) would make the identification of town sites easier today. Some of the buildings present in 1991 are now gone. Instead of finding a precious photograph of a historic site many times the reader is left with a disappointing single paragraph about it. The book is still a great one on the subject of declined timber towns of the Northwest. It could have been a masterpiece with a bit more illumination.