Rhyolite Train Depot/Casino/Museum

Rhyolite, Nevada, USA - Rhyolite is a ghost town in the state of Nevada, in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near the... more

by Martha Sherman

Title

Rhyolite Train Depot/Casino/Museum

Artist

Martha Sherman

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Rhyolite, Nevada, USA - Rhyolite is a ghost town in the state of Nevada, in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern boundary of Death Valley National Park. One of the original gold mining camps in the area, Rhyolite, founded in 1904, was named for the light-colored silica-rich kind of rock found in the area. Rhyolite's proximity to the Montgomery Shoshone mine, the region's largest producer of gold ore led it to boom in population and building growth. The town soon contained the train depot and casino, a stock exchange, banks, a school for 250 children, an ice plant, 2 electric plants, foundries, machine shops, a miner's union hospital, and several saloons, lodging houses, and restaurants. There were many social activities also, including baseball and basketball games, dances, and a symphony and variety shows at the opera house. In 1907 electricity came to Rhyolite. A mill was constructed to handle the large amounts of ore produced by the Montgomery Shoshone mine. The U.S. financial panic of late 1907 started the decline of Rhyolite. In the next few years mines closed, banks failed, newspapers stopped running, the mill reduced its output. There were fewer than 650 people left in the town in contrast to the estimated population in 1907 -1908 of between 3,500 and 5,000. In March of 1911, Montgomery Shoshone closed down after the high-grade ore was removed. In 1916 the lights and power were turned off in Rhyolite. By 1920 there were only a few residents left; the last resident died in 1924. After 1920, the town became a tourist attraction and a setting for motion pictures. Buildings deteriorated, were moved whole to nearby communities or were salvaged for building materials. The train depot (which was never reached by train tracks) and the Bottle House were among the few complete buildings to survive, and were restored and preserved. In 1937 the train depot first became a casino and bar, then a museum and souvenir shop which closed in the 1970s; this property is still privately owned. Rhyolite today is a mixture of Federal and private land.

Uploaded

May 12th, 2021