In Ryolite ghost town
West of Death Valley is the ghost town of Ryolite in Nevada. The far Southwest of the US has known a big gold rush and Ryolite is a proof that things boomed quickly, but vanished as fast. It’s not our first ghost town, nor our first gold rush town, but this place is special. Gold was found in 1904 and the townsite was established a year later and grew to have a population of 10000, a three storey Bank building with marble floor, three railroad tracks coming in… Because of the California earthquake in 1906 and the financial crisis of 1907 the mines production began to fall. Residents started leaving the town in 1910, and by 1920 only 14 persons remained. Most of the town disappeared when wood was taken from the buildings to build other towns because it was cheaper than importing it.
