Highway photography and abandoned places

Where highways grow quiet and trains no longer run, the grasslands offer a silent eulogy.

My name is Grant Douglas Miller and the landscapes I photograph memorialize windswept ruins and rusting artifacts of the American West.

abandoned church or schoolhouse in a wheatfield — Near Reardan, Washington

Abandoned car near old hangers in Tonopah, NV — At the abandoned aircraft hangers outside Tonopah, Nevada.

I capture the remnants of bygone lands before time washes them away forever.

I grew up in a town with a population of 135 — the sort of town where you know the exact population. My hometown was like many scattered across the western United States. When the railroad shut down, the jobs dried up and the few businesses closed. Most people moved away, and any remaining wealth the town had went with them.

As kids, we explored the ruins and invented stories about the people we imagined lived there.

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Old farmhouse in Gover, Colorado — 6 Mile Corner near Grover, Colorado.

This home has sat empty since my childhood. We used to ride our bikes out this way to explore the abandoned buildings and swim in the creek nearby.

abandoned house in Crook, Colorado — Just outside of Crook, Colorado

Abandoned truck stop and cafe outside Scottsbluff, NE — Mid-Century design influence in Minatare, Nebraska

Abandoned gas station in Minatare, NE — Minatare, Nebraska

Abandoned classic Dodge 100 pickup — Old Dodge 100 Left Out to Pasture in Utah

Classic DeSoto car abandoned in Colorado — DeSoto on the plains of Hereford, Colorado

An old farmhouse west of Grover, Colorado

Old trucks in Boslery Wyoming — Abandoned pickups in Bosler, Wyoming

Highways and passenger rail lines used to pump the life blood of rural America. Now the railways have shut down and interstates bypass these places. As the old arteries died, so did many towns. This home sits on the wide-open prairie just south of Last Chance, once a popular highway stop.

desolate abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere — Last Chance, Colorado

Dairy King abandoned at Last Chance, Colorado — Dairy King along the highway in Last Chance, Colorado

Abandoned Last Chance Motel in Colorado — Last Chance Motel, Colorado

Icy streets in Cripple Creek Colorado — Cripple Creek, Colorado

Abandoned A-Frame Building in Colorado — An old gas station turned bar off of I76

Doug's Tires, small business that closed in Denver, Colorado — Denver, Colorado

Doug was kind enough to let me take is photo. He cracked a joke and wished me a good day. The place closed a few months later.

Abandoned farmhouse on the grasslands of Colorado — New Raymer, Colorado

A storm was rolling in and the wind was beginning to pick up. The bright white siding and green vines created a stark contrast against the darkened skies. The grass waved in the wind like an ocean. How many more years will this little farmhouse stand?

Foggy morning for an abandoned homestead — Another angle of this house on a dreary morning.

A gutted abanadoned bus in Utah — East of Wendover, Utah

This bus has clearly had many visitors. It would have made the ultimate fort when I was a kid. As an adult, it felt more like a temple, with a reverent silence that was only broken by passing trucks.