The town sits on a maze of tunnels, and some buildings have already succumbed to undermining ,and account for what is a large number of abandoned buildings in this classic ghost town-turned-art colony. A must-see is the museum just below town in the old Clark mansion by the Little Daisy headframe. Like most major mining operations, the mining company had a large 3-d model made of soldered wire show the incredble extent of their tunneling under Jerome, and it is on display there. These models were used to make sure their operations did not trespass on other claims, and I understand these models were top-secret-only managers and engineers could view them. Also on display are about a dozen photos of the narrow-gauge United Verde and Pacific, which served Jerome for nearly four decades.
Many fascinating ghost towns throughout the Mountain West have been revived by either tourism or a successful transition to becoming an art colony, or a little of both. Photogenic Jerome was an early entry into tourism, but as you point out, is now populated by the ever interesting and truly eccentric art crowd(my brothers and sisters in arms!). A outlying settlement just below Jerome was where the hippy-types first settled in the 1970s. The locals referrred to it as "Gonnorhea Gulch". The town has gone a little upscale since, and can be impossibly crowded on weekends. I also recommend a great little private museum just west of town, past the old FWD dump truck. It has a great selection of very rare vehicles, a few mine locomotives, as well as a gigantic diesel generator/compressor that is still operable.
Other fascinating towns beckon. Bisbee, in SE Arizona, is the the true queen of the mining towns. Like Jerome, it is a town on stairways, and it, too, has become a major art colony. Tonopah and Goldfield in Nevada are both fascinating and well preserved. Any good entries from Utah??
