Ghost Town in California Wilderness Up for Sale on Craigslist for $225,000

Rachel Quigley

Daily Mail

A mining town in California has been put up for sale on Craigslist for $225,000 and it comes complete with a gold mine, a bar with a liquor license and even an opium den.

Seneca is a 12-acre ghost town in Plumas County and is being touted by its current owners, who bought it in 1970, as 'the real McCoy', a historic place with 'no known environmental hazards'.

For less than  a quarter of a million dollars you get several small buildings, the rights to all minerals and timber from the land and a working distillery, the ad says.

Bargain: For less than a quarter of a million dollars you get several small buildings, the rights to all minerals and timber from the land and a working distillery

Seneca resort: Still standing are a number of cabins, a working gin distillery (with liquor license!), one of the oldest restaurants in the area, and even a defunct opium den

Location: Seneca is a 12-acre ghost town in Plumas County, northern California, and is being touted by its current owners as 'the real McCoy', a historic place with 'no known environmental hazards'

Once home to a thriving community of gold miners, Seneca, formerly known as North Fork, has been slowly drying up since the post office closed in 1943. 

The town used to busy with hotels, casinos and feed stores and once hosted the 'Woodstock of the West' for thousands of people in the seventies.

The quirky Craigslist ad says: 'Want to buy a ghost town with a bar and liquor license? Expand it into a unique getaway! Perhaps the most remote restaurant in Northern California. 12 acres. 

'Seneca is the real McCoy. Historic. Very close to, or containing a historic Chinese-built gold mine. (Active gold mining today in the vicinity.) This deal includes several small buildings in various states of (dis)repair.

Nature: Once home to a thriving community of gold miners, Seneca, formerly known as North Fork, has been slowly drying up since the post office closed for good in 1943

According to the ad: 'The public access dirt road from both north and south is one of the most scenic in the USA. The northern access is darn scary and features maybe 1000-foot drops into the gorge'

'The public access dirt road from both north and south is one of the most scenic in the USA. (The northern access is darn scary and features maybe 1000-foot drops into the gorge.

'You should be acquainted with this type of region before visiting. The southern access is easier in bad weather or wintery seasons.' 

The largest gold nugget found in Seneca was reportedly 42 ounces, worth $28,000 in 1942 -- or roughly $400,000 in today’s economy, Fox News reports.

The Seneca post office opened in 1902, closed in 1918, reopened in 1923, moved in 1941, and closed finally in 1943.