Please remember to exercise caution when exploring Nevada's Ghost Towns & Mining Camps. Open shafts, drifts going into mountainsides, and old buildings, are all DANGEROUS. Be aware of your surroundings, and let someone know where you are, especially if your plans change.

Rhyolite

Directions to Rhyolite: head west from Beatty on Nevada 374 for 2 miles. Turn right and follow the road a little over 2 miles.

Although Rhyolite had a relatively short life, its story of dramatic rise and swift fall. This One of the most fascinating of any ghost town in Nye County.

Rhyolite formed soon after Frank "Shorty" Harris and Eddie Cross made rich discoveries in the summer of 1904 in the hills of what would eventually be the town site. Rhyolite was staked out in 1904. A small tent city with saloons, restaurants, and boarding houses sprang up on the lots. The post office opened on May 19,1905.

Water was a rare commodity in Rhyolite. In June 1905 the town had an efficient water system. Many other small camps around Rhyolite. Stage lines brought people and supplies and 3 railroads served the town during its beak years.

In 1907 and 1908 Rhyolite had a population between 8,000 and 12,000 people. The financial panic of 1907 killed Rhyolite but most of the effects did not take place until the spring of 1908.

"After a terrible fire in 1908 the population dropped to less than 1000 people in 1909. By the 1920's the towns' people had almost all left. It is almost unimaginable that the desolated site that used to be Rhyolite was once filled with more than 10,000 people and row upon row of buildings. Onlookers will feel a sense of emptiness, amazement, and even shock at the total devastation that has almost completely leveled the once-bustling city. Rhyolite is clearly one of the best of the ghost towns in Nye County and in the state; not just because of the building that remains but also because of the scope of change that has taken places there. If there is one place that exemplifies how fast life can change in a mining town, Rhyolite is the place. This is one of the first sites the author visited on his initial trip to Nye County in 1979. And it deserves credit for fostering his interests in ghost towns. Don't miss Rhyolite."

 

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