Ghost Town
Last week, luca and I went to a ghost town north of here called Rhyolite. The town lasted about 14 years; a gold mining town that took it's name from the rock that the gold was found in. At one point there were over 15,000 people and the town had a rather large three story bank building, a two story school, a train station, many shops, bars and a house of prostitution, in addition to a lot of private residences.
All that remains are the bits of the stone and concrete buildings that were built there; all of the wooden buildings are long gone. Actually, when the town totally failed, people took anything useful and moved on with it. The people who moved here and built this town thought that the great riches coming out of the mine would create a lasting presence; a wealthy town full of prosperous people. It lasted less than twenty years.
The Bank.
The School.
The General Store.
The Train Station (in remakably good condition still).
The Bottle House. (Built with beer and liquor bottles; good insulation, let's light in and cheap).
There were also...
Birds, but not many. This one made a very strange croaking sound.
Snakes! Snakes! Rattle Snakes!
So I stayed away from the out of the way places... Luca went up the side hill a bit to look at an old mine entrance. (Quick, what's a four letter cross word for "a mine entrance"? The answer is "adit".
It was an interesting visit. We went back into the nearest town, Beatty, (like Warren) and got some water and sodas and then just headed off into some more of the desert. For a while, we were in California! Eventually, we came back through Parumph, NV and then back into the Las Vegas area, passing through Red Rock. A nice drive. We had dinner at a little Thai place and then home.
When I first drove through the the desert in this area of the country over twenty five years ago, it freaked me out! It was soooo different and it made me somewhat uncomfortable to be in these vast dry seemingly empty spaces. Now, I like it. I find it intriguing, sometimes enchanting. It's also odd that many people think of California as a state of beaches and eternal lush summer, when so much of the state is desert, just like Nevada.
About six weeks from now, luca, pebbles and I will do a road trip from Vegas to Reno and parts north, which I am looking forward to both for the company and the further exploration of this very odd state of Nevada.
durlx 8/19/2007
All that remains are the bits of the stone and concrete buildings that were built there; all of the wooden buildings are long gone. Actually, when the town totally failed, people took anything useful and moved on with it. The people who moved here and built this town thought that the great riches coming out of the mine would create a lasting presence; a wealthy town full of prosperous people. It lasted less than twenty years.
The Bank.
The School.
The General Store.
The Train Station (in remakably good condition still).
The Bottle House. (Built with beer and liquor bottles; good insulation, let's light in and cheap).
There were also...
Birds, but not many. This one made a very strange croaking sound.
Snakes! Snakes! Rattle Snakes!
So I stayed away from the out of the way places... Luca went up the side hill a bit to look at an old mine entrance. (Quick, what's a four letter cross word for "a mine entrance"? The answer is "adit".
It was an interesting visit. We went back into the nearest town, Beatty, (like Warren) and got some water and sodas and then just headed off into some more of the desert. For a while, we were in California! Eventually, we came back through Parumph, NV and then back into the Las Vegas area, passing through Red Rock. A nice drive. We had dinner at a little Thai place and then home.
When I first drove through the the desert in this area of the country over twenty five years ago, it freaked me out! It was soooo different and it made me somewhat uncomfortable to be in these vast dry seemingly empty spaces. Now, I like it. I find it intriguing, sometimes enchanting. It's also odd that many people think of California as a state of beaches and eternal lush summer, when so much of the state is desert, just like Nevada.
About six weeks from now, luca, pebbles and I will do a road trip from Vegas to Reno and parts north, which I am looking forward to both for the company and the further exploration of this very odd state of Nevada.
durlx 8/19/2007
posted by durlx at 8/19/2007 03:17:00 AM
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