Rhyolite

These pictures were taken in January 1998 in Rhyolite, Nevada, near Death Valley National Park. Rhyolite was a gold town founded in 1905 or so and from there grew at a fast rate until it reached a peak in 1907 of about 3500 residents. Some estimates, however, have put the the peak population as high as 6000 to 8000.

Rhyolite went bust soon thereafter for a variety of reasons. By the time of the 1910 census, only 675 official residents remained. By 1920, there were only 14 individuals living in Rhyolite.

Walking through Rhyolite today is an exercise in imagination, as very little of this once thriving town remains. A few hollow shells of some stone and cement buildings along with some hand-painted street signs stand as the last vestiges of this ghost town.