As Route 66 winds through the Mojave Desert in California, the road is pretty empty. But there was once a number of towns along the road that have been lost to time. We recently visited two of them, Siberia and Bagdad.


Both towns got their start in 1883 when the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway was built between Needles and Barstow, CA. Within a few years several mines opened in the area, greatly expanding the population.

Bagdad would become the biggest town between Needles and Barstow, and even had a Harvey House at one point. But neither town could survive the end of the steam engine, or Route 66 being bypassed.

Siberia breathed its last breath in the 1940s and Bagdad held on to the 1960s, but both are long gone now, and little remains of both. But that doesn't mean nothing remains.

In this video we explore the two town sites, talk about the history, a couple of military tragedies in the area, and visit the Bagdad cemetery.

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