Death Valley, Rhyolite Ghost Town

Rhyolite Ghost Rider Sculpture 1984

Rhyolite is a ghost town in the Bulfrog Hills about 120 miles NW of Las Vegas, near the town of Beaty, Nevada. Rhyolite was founded in 1905 as one of several mining camps during the gold rush. Somewhere around 1907 Rhyolite had electric lights, water mains, telephones, newspapers, a hospital, a school, an opera house and a stock exchange. It is estimated that between 3500 and 5000 people lived there. It collapsed very quickly and by 1920 was a ghost town.

This sculpture posted today is one of many at the Goldwell Open Air Museum, the most distinctive being a re-creation of The Last supper. Well worth a visit if you are ever in Death Valley...