 | Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in San Bernardino County. Located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California, it was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, and today has been converted into a county park named Calico Ghost Town. |  |
 | In 1881 four prospectors described a peak as "calico-colored", the peak, the mountain range to which it belonged, and the town that followed were all called Calico. The four discovered silver in the mountain, and opened the Silver King Mine, which was California's largest silver producer in the mid-1880s. The town soon supported three hotels, five general stores, a meat market, bars, brothels, and three restaurants and boarding houses. |  |
 | At its height of silver production during 1883 and 1885, Calico had over 500 mines and a population of 1,200 people. The Silver Purchase Act drove down the price of silver. By 1896, its value had decreased to $0.57 per troy ounce, and Calico's silver mines were no longer economically viable. By the turn of the century, Calico was all but a ghost town, and with the end of borax mining in the region in 1907 the town was completely abandoned. |  |
