# Rhyolite Ghost Town, Nevada



## soranman (Apr 1, 2011)

*Rhyolite Ghost Town, Nevada, USA, April 2007*

Not seen this town posted before so thought it may be of interest to some, although not as epic as Nobby's Bodie ghost town report, there are still a few interesting buildings.

Google Map of the site here

*History*

The town was founded in 1904, after a rich strike of gold was found by Eddie Cross and a "Shorty" Harris. The rush was on and over 2000 claims covered an area of 30 mile area. The most promising was the Montgomery Shoshone mine, which prompted everyone to move to the newly laid out Rhyolite. The town immediately boomed with buildings springing up everywhere. A stock exchange and Board of Trade were formed. The red light district drew women from as far away as San Francisco. There were hotels, stores, a school for 250 children, an ice plant, two electric plants, foundries and machine shops and even a miner’s union hospital. 

In April 1907 electricity came to Rhyolite, and by August of that year a mill had been constructed to handle 300 tons of ore a day at the Montgomery Shoshone mine. It consisted of a crusher, 3 giant rollers, over a dozen cyanide tanks and a reduction furnace. The Montgomery Shoshone mine had become nationally known because Bob Montgomery once boasted he could take $10,000 a day in ore from the mine. It was later owned by Charles Schwab, who purchased it in 1906 for a reported 2 to 6 million dollars. At it's peak, the town was home to over 10,000 residents

The financial panic of 1907 took its toll on Rhyolite and this was the beginning of the end for the town. In the next few years mines started closing and banks failed. Newspapers went out of business, and by 1910 the production at the mill had slowed to $246,661 and there were only 611 residents in the town. On March 14, 1911 the directors voted to close down the Montgomery Shoshone mine and mill. In 1916 the light and power were finally turned off in the town. 

Pictures were found on an old hard drive and taken with a Fuji compact before I got a DSLR.

Old Picture of the town in it's prime
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Overview of the town now



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The local store
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The 3 storey bank that cost $90k to build
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The prison is one of the best preserved buildings
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The train station
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Mine entrance(was not brave enough to venture in)
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If you recognise some of the buildings, they were featured in the 2005 film "The Island"


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## tommo (Apr 1, 2011)

wow that is great how times change, from the old and new pic and as for the mine entrance.........Mmmmm would love it


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## dizzydebs (Apr 1, 2011)

Fascinating and very sad to see the demise of a thriving town, thanks for sharing!


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## Foxylady (Apr 3, 2011)

Love this. The kind of place where there should be some tumbling weed. 
It's quite humbling how a whole town can become a few crumbling remains like that. Cheers Soranman.


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