When Carl Mydans first started working for <i>LIFE</i> magazine, he was asked to go to Texas and document everything from its last great cattle drive to its tough oil towns. He stopped in the town of Terlingua, a community that had sprung up around some quicksilver mines and the water sources nearby. In the early 1900s, mine workers, and those that supported the mines by farming or by cutting timber for use in the mines and smelters, began to settle in the area. Once the mercury boom ceased, the population slowly dispersed and Terlingua essentially became a ghost town.
