History & local legend
Haunted Vista overlooks the Wilson Creek valley near the former Anna S. coal mine, which operated from 1905 to 1937. A cable tram carried coal in buckets across the valley to the railroad at Antrim, where many of the miners lived. Riding a bucket could spare a worker the long walk home.
The Mid State Trail Association records a local story about a miner who climbed aboard on a winter evening just before the machinery shut down. Stranded high above the valley, he supposedly froze to death before the tram started again.
When surface mining returned to the area decades later, another haunting story emerged. Workers on the late-1970s night shift reported seeing miners climb out of the old workings carrying picks, their lamps still burning. The surviving tram foundation marks the industrial setting behind the vista’s name.
Sources
- Mid State Trail Association, Blackwell to Route 287 guide, the concrete tram foundation and the last miner
- Atlas Obscura, Haunted Vista, 1970s night-shift story
- Dave Miller, MyHikes, Haunted Vista via Anna S Road, GPS waypoint and trail
- Lloyd A. Reed, USGS, 1980 survey of renewed mining at the Anna S, including Wilson Creek basin map
