This Historic Washington Ghost Town Is Home To An Outdoor Museum
By Sherri Adams|Published February 07, 2023
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Sherri Adams
Author
Sherri Adams is a writer, photographer, and travel enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest. She has always been passionate about writing and the opportunities for connection through the written word. When she’s not writing, you can often find her at the seashore with her toes in the sand and her nose in a book.
Imagine stepping back in time to an era before modern technology. Picture yourself meandering down a dirt road in an old mining town where there are no cell phones, no big-screen TVs, and no modern automobiles. There’s nary a sound but your own footsteps echoing on boardwalks, conjuring up thoughts of what life might have been like in the early 1900s. Such a place exists in the form of a tiny ghost town in Oroville, Washington, and this is one historic destination you don’t want to miss.
The Old Molson Historic Site is actually an outdoor museum where you can take a self-guided tour and see what life as an early settler was like in Okanogan County.
For the first year, Molson was a booming mining town and quickly grew to a population of 300. The tiny town housed general stores, a schoolhouse, a saloon, a hotel, as well as its own doctor and attorney. By 1901 however, the once booming mining business had declined and people moved on in search of their fortune elsewhere, leaving Molson's population to fall to just 13.
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Between 1905-1906, the Great Northern Railroad moved into Molson, bringing with it new settlers, railroad workers, and renewed prosperity.
John W. Molson neglected to register the title to the land on which Molson was founded, an ill-fated oversight that would have a disastrous impact on the town and its residents.
A long-standing conflict ensued over which land would be called the official town of Molson. It is said that the Old Molson Post Office was actually stolen, and the bank was physically moved from the old Molson lot to a site in New Molson.
By 1935, the gold ore supply ran out and residents moved to new towns seeking employment.
