First published 2024
Brent Underwood thought buying an abandoned silver mine in Cerro Gordo would be a simple adventure. The desolate ghost town sits high above Death Valley, where over $500 million in ore once emerged from miles of underground tunnels. Historic figures like Butch Cassidy and Mark Twain supposedly visited this place that saw a murder weekly in its heyday 150 years ago. Underwood arrives in March 2020 and immediately gets snowed in for weeks. What starts as an escape from traditional work becomes something far more demanding. He faces fires, floods, and earthquakes while trying to resurrect the town that broke countless dreamers before him. The project attracts millions of followers worldwide as Underwood learns new skills from mentors who teach him self sufficiency and creative problem solving. His story becomes a test of one person against nature's forces and a forgotten place against modern expectations.
Genres: nature, adventure, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, man-vs-nature
Setting: Cerro Gordo, Death Valley
Period: 19th-century, 21st-century
288 pages · Hardcover · Harmony