"If it bleeds, it leads," so the saying goes in journalism. And although legacy media outlets are on the decline, the old trope lives on through the internet. What's popular on streaming platforms? True crime is a big one, but the news is worse. Yet as we find crime and world events interesting, we have to take breaks, or we'll go crazy. I discovered that pause in a YouTube channel about an abandoned mining town.
As mysterious as the YouTube algorithm may be, it worked in my favor when it suggested "Ghost Town Living," hosted by Brent Underwood.
As I scrolled, I found the video titled: "I spent my entire life savings on an abandoned ghost town," published in early 2020.
OK, it sounds interesting. I'll buy a box.
It turns out it wasn't clickbait. This guy really did buy the abandoned mining town of Cerro Gordo, California, way out in the Sierra mountains, miles from civilization.
No running water, no electricity, and minimal cell service.
And he was there by himself, at 8500 feet above sea level. At least at first.
So what's the point? A paintball excursion? Militia training camp?
Brent and his business partners initially purchased the property to turn the ghost town into a tourist destination, complete with a hotel, artists retreat, and mine exploration, which is still the plan to my knowledge.
However, after watching hours of his content, I found his channel meant much more than historical restoration and infrastructure development to his viewers.
We came for the mine exploring, mountain hikes, and stories of a booming town that once was.
But we stayed for the positive insight and retreat from a conflicted world.
As Brent has shared many thoughts with us, I began to wonder, if we could all adopt his experience and knowledge, could an abandoned mining town save the world?
Step One: Disconnect
Brent's withdraw to Cerro Gordo couldn't have come at a better time.
While I didn't discover the channel until mid-2021, his first video went up on April 21, 2020.
As we all scrambled for toilet paper around that time, Brent agreed he would watch the area for the previous caretaker while he checked on his wife in another state.
What Brent thought would be a temporary stay turned into almost two years to this day.
These days, Brent has constant visitors and volunteers, so he's rarely alone. He even has cats, goats, ghosts, and alpacas to keep him company.
But by disconnecting at the abandoned mining town, Brent gained a new perspective.
As he made plans and explored the property, his online social life became virtually non-existent other than uploading videos occasionally in town and research.
We've become obsessed with material technology and maintaining a secondary internet identity.
Sadly, for many, that life is primary.
That's led to declining mental health and suicide, especially for teens. Bullying has never been worse.
And living in Cerro Gordo takes care of that real quick.
As the sun sets over the California mountainscape, Brent cruises the desert, gets lost in the snow and spends 48 hours in a mine.
Of course, this writing doesn't do any of it justice, but Brent's expert recording and editing skills give us the next best thing to being there. With drones that follow him on his dirt bike and sky-high photography and contemplative narration, we get much more than a 150-year-old mining town.
While Brent's physical disconnection is positive, there's something else at play.
From what I've seen, Brent never once mentioned anything divisive in his videos.
For Brent, Cerro Gordo and his mission are number one.
We can also retreat from the world and gain new insight by watching "Ghost Town Living."
As Brent often says, "zooming out" allows us to see that the little things we get wrapped up in daily are irrelevant in the grand scheme.
Step Two: Find a White Whale
Brent often refers to elusive goals as "white whales" in reference to Moby Dick.
The restoration of the abandoned mining town is Brent's ultimate goal, but it's filled with many secondary objectives along the way.
Brent hunted for the Union Mine earlier in the series, a silver mine thought to be lost to collapse. While he tirelessly searched for an opening, he often found the tunnels led nowhere.
But rather than get upset, he looked at it as a success because he knew where not to look.
The search was part of the adventure.
Having goals like this helps us focus on positive attention. We can sit around and watch CNN lie to us and scare us, or we can look elsewhere. Judging by their ratings, it appears many have.
Do people that fight in comments sections have a white whale? Or is that life for them?
How are we helping ourselves and the future by trying to catch people without masks on and record them in hopes of going viral?
You know what they say about idle hands. People need something to do. Something other than race hustling or fear-mongering.
That's why we need freedom. We need a thriving economy and eliminate the mass formation psychosis many people are under right now.
Kids can’t develop if they can’t see each others faces. Our country can't prosper if businesses can't run.
Many people, especially young people, should be dreaming of tomorrow, and they're instead living in anxiety.
Let's all find our white whales, set our own goals, and leave the world a better place.
Like we're supposed to.
Step Three: Create Community
Here's a challenge: create a sense of community in a remote abandoned mining town in the California mountains.
That's exactly what Brent did.
While we viewers aren't in Cerro Gordo, we have helped it grow through likes and shares.
And that's what's led people to go to the mountain retreat physically. Those closer to the town or the means to travel there helped Brent create a new community.
When local (relatively) concrete companies refused to help create a foundation for the new American Hotel, viewers networked to find someone who would.
Mr. Heavy D Sparks.
When Brent wanted to metal detect the property for museum artifacts, he quickly realized the task would be tedious and time-consuming.
So he asked the camera.
The next thing he knew, he had 50 people waving their wands over the dirt floor. And this is not a quick and easy place to get to.
But the remote viewers pitch in too.
People send him gear, food, and knick-knacks to help keep him safe, comfortable, or entertained.
As Brent doesn't tell us how we should or shouldn't live our lives, we all connect on a fundamental level.
Brent probably didn't expect to find the level of support and sense of community he made out of an abandoned mining town.
And whether you find the history exciting or not, you have to appreciate how Brent opted out of 2020 and progressed the way he has.
When volunteers go up the mountain, we don't hear any discussion about vaccinations, woke beliefs, and Cerro Gordo doesn't require masks.
Can an Abandoned Mining Town Save the World?
Is my title a little far-fetched?
Maybe, but if the world could work on these three steps, society would greatly benefit.
For those destined to live around others, we can still influence ourselves by minding our own business, disconnecting periodically, and getting back to community.
And I have high hopes of the Cerro Gordo channel becoming more popular. I'm not a YouTube analytics expert but look at his video numbers.
"Ghost Town Living" is less than two years old and already has over a million followers. Meanwhile, my dad-yoga channel first appeared in 2009 and sits at 205K as I write this. Just keep doing what you're doing, Sean.
Brent also has a high like-to-view ratio.
While legacy media outlets and mindless prank videos, which are mostly fake, by the way, still draw many people, there's hope to spread a positive message.
So Mr. Underwood, if you get discouraged, know we're picking up what you're putting down.
Thanks for stepping up.
While we learn the stories from miners and townsfolk from 150 years ago, we know the end of their story.
But if we don't get back to a sense of community and positivity, this country or world will have a similar fate to that abandoned mining town.