Goffs, California

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Goffs, California is a nearly empty one-time railroad town at the route's high point in the Mojave Desert. Goffs was a stop along famous Route 66 prior to 1931, when a more direct route between Needles and Amboy was built. Goffs was also home to workers of the nearby Santa Fe Railroad. Might have been called "Blake" circa 1892. With Hommer east, Fenner south and Blackburn and Purdy north.

An early 20th Century general store is the town's largest building and is abandoned today. A historic schoolhouse, built in 1914 and almost totally deteriorated by the early 1980s has since been renovated per its original plans by the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association. The schoolhouse and grounds now house a museum primarily specializing in the area's mining history. Remnants of Goffs' mining days still dot the town.

Goffs is accessible off Interstate 40 at U.S. Highway 95 north. A left turn onto Goffs Road, the pre-1931 alignment of US 66, becomes a desolate forty-mile (64 km) stretch which served as home to several towns which have mostly vanished including Ibis, Bannock and Homer. Continuing west on Goffs Road brings motorists back to I-40 at the town of Essex.

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