Ojuela

The town of Ojuela, in Durango, was one of the first mining towns founded in New Spain. It was founded by the Jesuit priest Servando de Ojuelos in 1598 next to a mineral-rich ravine.

To cross the ravine, they built a suspension bridge that still stands and can be walked across. But in 1920, a series of storms left the mine completely flooded, and the town was deserted.

Real de Catorce

The town called Real de Minas de Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Álamos de Catorce is one of the most famous abandoned towns in Mexico.

It was located at the foot of a hill where several mines were built, from which a great deal of silver was extracted—so much that the state of Real de Catorce began to be called Potosí, after the silver-rich mountain in South America that bears that name. But the silver ran out, and by the middle of the 19th century, the town was deserted.