The American Mercury edited by H.L. Mencken, September 1926 carried a story about Kingston by Duncan Aikman. It's a wonderful look into a town that once thronged with as many as 1,500 people--miners and attending businesspeople--that had dwindled to a mere 300 people when Aikman visited.Aikman leads with a description of a mansion and grizzled miner hanging on to hope of what might still come -- a good grubstake. No names are given, but the descriptions are vivid.
Aikman was a prodigious writer in the day. He wrote a biography of Calamity Jane and many magazine articles on culture and on politics in Latin America. The latter piqued the interest of the FDR administration; Aikman was apparently subjected to wiretaps.
You can read his Kingston story, "He Sentimentalists' by clicking here.
