Are there any "undeveloped" ghost towns in Texas, Arizona, or New Mexico worth visiting?

Answer 1

The ghost town website mentioned above is pretty good, but it does not allow you to easily search on criteria (ie: size, developed or not) and so you have to do a lot of reading to find what you want. I would recommend the following guide books which rate the sites and give a good researched history to boot:
"Arizona Ghost Towns and Mining Camps" by Philip Varney
"New Mexico's Best Ghost Towns" by Philip Varney
"Ghost Towns of Texas" by Baker

Although there are still some good uninhabited and undeveloped ghost towns out there, you should be prepared that virtually none of them are like the ones seen on TV and movies with rows of standing buildings and furniture still inside. A good ghost town might have 3 or 4 roof-less shells of buildings and visible foundations of a dozen or so more. Many have nothing but faint foundations and you could easily walk past them without realizing there was a town there. Needless to say, the best ones are usually the hardest to get to.

Having visited most of the ghost towns in Arizona and New Mexico, here are my picks:

ARIZONA
Sasco (north of Tucson, near Picacho Peak) - Old copper smelter town from the early 1900s. Remains of three buildings including a multi-room hotel and the small jail, plus numerous foundations, a good cemetery and very extensive cement foundations of the smelter, powerplant and train depot.

Swansea (middle of nowhere, east of Parker) - Old copper mining and smelting town from the 1920s. Remains of over a dozen buildings including the store and miners quarters plus extensive smelter and mine remains.

Goldroad (NW Arizona near Oatman) - Turn of the century gold mining town spread out along an old historic stretch of Route 66. Only a couple of partial building shells, but numerous foundations and other mining remains covering the better part of a mile near the 'developed' ghost town of Oatman.

NEW MEXICO
Old Hachita (SW NW near Lordsburg) - Gold mining town from the late 1800s. Over a dozen buildings in various conditions as well as mining remains and machinery. Remote location and in a danger border area (note this is different than the current almost-ghost town of Hachita).

Trementina (NE New Mexico near Las Vegas) - Ranching supply town from the 1920s-30s. Close to two dozen stone buildings (mostly old houses).

Lake Valley (south central NM, east of Silver City) - Mining boom camp from the 1870s to 1930s. Nearly a dozen buildings, several very well preserved. Now protected by the BLM (but not really developed).

All of the above are true ghost towns - completely uninhabited and entirely or mostly unrestored or developed. For towns that are developed or partially inhabited, but still have many original historic buildings and a old west 'feel' about them, I would recommend:

Arizona: Vulture Gold Mine (near Wickenburg), Bisbee and Jerome (major copper camps, now artist and tourist communities), Oatman and Chloride (NW Arizona) and Tombstone (although it is becoming very touristy and unauthentic).

New Mexico: Shakespeare (near Lordsburg), Pinos Altos and Mogollon (near Silver City), Hillsboro and Kingston (east of Silver City, near Lake Valley), Magdalena (cattle town near Socorro), Madrid and Cerrillos (between Santa Fe and Albq) and Lincoln (home of Billy the Kid, now a well preserved historic district).

Answer 2

You could visit this site which lists "undeveloped" ghost towns in the US:
http://www.ghosttowns.com/

That is quite impressive from the poster beneath me.

Answer 3

New Mexico Ghost cities Melodrama, mining camps, gold mines and stagecoach stops: stumble on New Mexico's historic playgrounds for hermits, desperados, prospectors and wild, wild women folk.

Answer 4

If they are indeed real ghost town, they can'e be renovated for tourist, then they are no longer ghost towns.