Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern boundary of Death Valley National Park. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. During an ensuing gold rush, thousands of gold-seekers, developers, miners and service providers flocked to the Bullfrog Mining District. Many settled in Rhyolite, which lay in a sheltered desert basin near the region's biggest producer, the Montgomery Shoshone Mine.[1] It was abandoned in 1910 when the nationwide financial crisis hits the capital and difficulty to extract the richest ore, leaving the production to fell and causing the boom to be over, forcing residents to move to other towns.
Coverage[]
Rhyolite is already a ghost town, and already seen the future of metal and gold. Located just 120 miles from Las Vegas, it is a former gold-mining town only just built in a desert landscape near Death Valley National Park. Gary Speck and Stein Sture guide and explain the progress of nature and the history of surviving buildings in Rhyolite.
History[]
Rhyolite during the boom.
The population of Rhyolite are only 2 when the first gold was struck in 1904, where it jumped to 1200 people in just 6 months, only some found great success. In the first 3 years of the town, the largest mine produced over $1 million in gold, equivalent to more than $24 million today. The riches fueled the construction of the town that hoped to rival Chicago. By 1908, there are over 8000 residents. Despite the promises of the mine, the most valuable ore in the area are proved too difficult to extract, and the national financial crisis also joins in when the capital needs to sustain to hunt for gold. By 1910, the boom is over, and most of Rhyolite is a ghost town.
Exploration[]
Rhyolite Railroad Depot[]
Gary Speck explains the Rhyolite Railroad Depot, when it was first constructed in 1908, it is the first structure for the people who came to visit the town from the coal-powered steam engine which used to coming up the hill where black smoke pours out the coal stack. He continues that the people disembark onto the steps of the station, they can be heard their excited shouts and cries as they to visit their hopes of getting a golden future. By time time Rhyolite is abandoned in 1910, there is no trains to stop on Rhyolite, and the structure is abandoned, but its still intact.
Cook Bank Building[]
The Cook Bank Building.
The Cook Bank Building used to guard over $200,000 of wealth, equivalent of $4 million today. It contains decorative features of marble stairs and stained glass windows and it was once the crown jewel of Rhyolite. Gary Speck stated it is built right at the peak of Rhyolite. The building is one of the earliest multi-story buildings in the west to be constructed from reinforced concrete, a technique where it had only been used in the US for 15 years. But after the town abandonment, the shell of the building still remains, and will be crumble to dust. Gary Speck stated that 100 years later will turn the building to gravel and sand.
While the Cook Bank Building still stand, the enemy it faced is not moisture, but wind and sand. Located in one of the driest places on Earth where the mountains where Rhyolite resides averages about 6 inches of rain a year, the particles erode the surfaces and penetrate cracks, causing the concrete layers to separate where the structure crumbles. Stein Sture stated that the building is ready to topple under its own weight. Nature is not the only one who attack the building, but man themselves. People began scavenging wood and other useful material that were scarce in the remote desert. Stein Sture stated that the floor joists were sawed off by man after its abandoned and once the floor joints disappeared, the building is now free to deflect outwards.
The General Store and the Bottle House[]
At the general store, the disappearance of internal wooden structure have hastened the destruction thanks to man scavenging for wood. The Bottle House, made from 30,000 empty whiskey bottles, is one of the surviving home in Rhyolite. It was restored several times including in 1925 for the use in a silent film. The glass itself is biologically inactive so it does not corrode.
Exploration Conclusion[]
The episode ended the exploration stating that Rhyolite founders hoped to build a metropolis in the desert, instead its on the verge of vanishing. Stein Sture stated that man can set up a city and will crumble and disappear within a couple of hundred years.
Gallery[]
