Cambria (1889–1928) is a ghost town located in the Black Hills of Weston County, Wyoming, United States.

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad stopped its westward expansion in Alliance, Nebraska, due to high eastern coal costs.

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad signed the contract and laid tracks north from Newcastle, Wyoming to the new mine, which were completed in 1889.

The company also built a 2,345-foot (715 m) deep well that could pump 325,000 US gallons (1,230,000 L; 271,000 imp gal) of water per day and used compressed air to bring the water to the top; a reservoir; a school; three churches; two hotels (one of which was three stories high); a lodge hall; a bank; a courthouse; offices; a concert band; a boarding house for bachelor workers; an opera house, which once sold out a production of Faust; a recreation building that included billiard and pool tables and a bowling alley; and about 150 houses for miners and their families.

[2] The company issued small, cheap coins called "clackers", so named for the noise they made.

The mining company later placed a prohibition on all alcohol stronger than beer, and saloons and dance halls were banned.

[3] The first Catholic church service in Cambria was held in 1891 and was led by Reverend P. Cassidy, a resident of Hot Springs, South Dakota.

The St. James Roman Catholic Church was constructed by Reverend P. J. Lynch in 1903, under a 99-year lease from the company that cost $2,000.

[4] In 1904, the Cambria Coal Company announced that the population of the town was about 1,400, but the official 1900 census counted 966 residents.

[3] In 1923, the company started building a small resort facility known as Cambria Casino Park, which would cost $250,000 to finish.

The Cambria Fuel Company, which consisted of six mines built throughout the valley, began operation on December 4, 1889.

74 beehive ovens were built to convert waste coal into coke, which was then shipped to smelters throughout the Black Hills.

[2] In February 1928, Cambria Fuel Company announced the closing of the mine by April 1, unless new deposits were found.

At 4:30 P.M. on March 15, 1928,[3] the whistle blew for the final time and reportedly sounded the disaster warning, which consisted of a series of short blasts.

The town was deserted so quickly that the courthouse lawn sprinkler was said to have been left running until the reservoir was emptied.

The home of the superintendent, the church steeple, the mule stables, the bank and office vaults, a few garages, many mine buildings, and cold cellars are also among the ruins.

[4] In 1900, official U.S. Census records counted 966 people living in Cambria, but the company reported an approximate number of 1,400.