Monday, April 16, 2018

RHYOLITE, NEVADA

April 14, 2018

We found out about another MUST SEE thing in Nevada, so off we went.  Rhyolite is an historic gold mining ghost town about 75 miles from here.  It was very interesting. In 1904, gold was found here.  The downfall of Rhyolite started with the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. Funding for the mines was put on the back burner. At it's height, there were 5,000 to 8,000 people here. It was thought at one time to be The Chicago of the West.  It was a booming town while Las Vegas was still considered a "little hole in the wall".  How times have changed!  Besides discovering gold, rhyolite was found. It is used in man made marble.

This is a restoration of the Bottle House.  It was built  in 1906 using over 5000 bottles to be raffled off. The winning family lived here for many years. 




This was the  3 story Cook Bank building,  built in 1908, costing $90,000.  Seems like alot for those days.  It  housed the post office in the basement, bank on the 1st floor and business offices on the 2nd and 3rd floors. It had electric lights, steam heating and marble floors, all luxuries for those days




This was the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Depot, built in 1909. It was only 1 of 3 railroads in town.  That shows you how important this town was, to have 3 railroads coming to town. 



This was the Porter Brothers store.



This was the local brothel!



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