NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - In the gold and silver rushes of the19th century, sleepy settlements changed overnight into teeming boomtowns.

But after the mines played out and people left, what became of these one-time capitals of capital? Some turned into ghost towns. A handful, like Aspen and Park City, capitalized on their scenery to spawn leisure-time hot spots.

Excluding the fortunate few that went chi-chi, one attribute many played-out mining towns possess in abundance is housing. The exodus of former residents left behind an inventory of well-constructed buildings for newcomers to snap up. Often, they cost a fraction of what they would fetch in faster growing areas.

Not all former mining towns are characterized by volatile growth and rapid decline; some have long histories of steady production from their mines. But even in such places, the economics of mineral extraction and production efficiencies tend gradually to eliminate many jobs – and inhabitants.

One factor that many mining towns have in common is that they suffered from disastrous fires in their early days, when wood was the main building material for their houses and stores.

Consequently, near the peaks of their prosperity many rebuilt their infrastructures of brick and stone. These constructions, for the most part, survive until the present day.