Robert Louis Vesmarais is the only inhabitant of a Californian ghost town, Cerro Gordo, where he has been searching for a lost vein of silver for 22 years. A 70-year-old former high school teacher, Vesmarais used to visit the remote spot in the school holidays to search for ore. But he eventually moved there full-time, to live away from the crowds "up in the mountains, under the stars". Cerro Gordo (Fat Hill in Spanish) was once the most fruitful silver mine in California. "It helped to build Los Angeles," Vesmarais says. Convinced there is plenty of silver left, he descends 800ft with a chisel and hammer to "crack ... (full story)