Skip to main content

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nevada State Route 374 to Rhyolite and Hell's Gate

Back in the winter of 2016 I was heading through southern Nevada towards Death Valley National Park.  In Beatty I pulled off of US Route 95 onto Nevada State Route 374 to approach Death Valley National Park via the ghost town of Rhyolite through Hell's Gate.






NV 374 is a short 8.8 mile state highway located in Nye County between US 95 in Beatty west along the Bullfrog Hills near the ghost town of Rhyolite to the boundary of Death Valley National Park.  The implied routing of NV 374 continues over the California State Line into the Funeral Mountains where it becomes Daylight Pass Road.  Day Light Pass Road continues through Hell's Gate in Death Valley National Park to CA 190. 

NV 374 originally signed as NV 58 prior to the 1976 State Highway Renumbering.  NV 58 in it's original form can be viewed on this 1956 Nevada State Highway Map.

1956 State Highway Map

A couple miles west of Beatty NV 374 intersects Rhyolite Road which continues north into the Bullfrog Hills where the ghost town Rhyolite is located.




Rhyolite was founded in 1905 due to gold claims being discovered in the Bullfrog Hills.  The largest producer in Rhyolite was the Montgomery Shoshone Mine which invested heavily into the infrastructure of the community.  Most of the current structures and ruins in Rhyolite were largely built or paid for by the Montgomerey Shoshone Mine.  Rhyolite reached it's peak population of approximately 5,000 by 1908.

The end for Rhyolite started when the Montgomery Shoshone Mine had an independent contractor evaluate the quality of the ore being mine.  The ore in Rhyolite ended up being far below the quality that was originally accessed which led to a mining bust.  By 1910 the population of Rhyolite declined to about 1,000 residents and by 1919 it had declined so much that the power grid was shut off.  By 1920 Rhyolite was completely abandoned.

The Rhyolite Rail Depot remained the only operating structure in Rhyolite from the 1937 when it reopened as a casino until the 1970s when it shuttered.








Mining resumed in Rhyolite in 1988 when an open pit facility began operation which lasted until 1998.  Rhyolite is more known for being the setting of several science fiction movies such as Cherry 2000 and the Island.  The 1909 Cooke Bank Building in particular might be recognizable to a casual movie viewer.  For what its worth the Cooke Bank Building does have a surreal feel to it with the bleached concrete structure still standing around a long decayed interior.









The former mining area of Rhyolite is easily viewed east of town.





Various debris of the former mining community are strewn all over Rhyolite.



The marque is still apparent on the Porter Building.






The Overbury Bank still partially stands, the vault reminds intact.








I'm not sure what this structure was but the first floor was largely intact.


The Miner's Union Hall is marked but essentially completely crumbled.





This glass bottle house apparently was constructed from debris found in Rhyolite.





Heading west from Rhyolite I reached the terminus of NV 374 and entered Death Valley National Park.  Upon reaching California I crossed Daylight Pass to Hell's Gate.  Death Valley and Badwater Basin were clearly visible to the south.  There was an unusual level of activity in Death Valley due to a winter "super bloom" which can be seen if you can spot the yellow flowers in the picture below.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old River Lock & Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)

  The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) and its connecting satellite facilities combine to form one of the most impressive flood control complexes in North America. Located along the west bank of the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Red River and Atchafalaya River nearby, this structure system was fundamentally made possible by the Flood Control Act of 1928 that was passed by the United States Congress in the aftermath of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 however a second, less obvious motivation influenced the construction here. The Mississippi River’s channel has gradually elongated and meandered in the area over the centuries, creating new oxbows and sandbars that made navigation of the river challenging and time-consuming through the steamboat era of the 1800s. This treacherous area of the river known as “Turnbull’s Bend” was where the mouth of the Red River was located that the upriver end of the bend and the Atchafalaya River, then effectively an outflow

Interstate 10S and the original Interstate 110 in California

Interstate 10S is a short spur of Interstate 10 along San Bernardino Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.  Interstate 10S begins at the Santa Ana Freeway (US Route 101) and extends east to Interstate 5 where it merges into mainline Interstate 10.  Interstate 10S is one of the oldest freeway segments in Los Angeles having been part of US Routes 60, 70 and 99 when it was part of the corridor of the Ramona Expressway.  The current corridor of Interstate 10S was assigned as Chargeable Corridor H following the passage of the 1956 Federal Highway Aid Act.  Interstate 110 was a short-lived designation which comprised the segment San Bernardino Freeway from US Route 101 to Interstate 5 between 1964-1968.  The original Interstate 110 was dropped as a Chargeable Corridor during 1965 and consolidated as Interstate 10S during 1968.   The original Interstate 110 can be seen as the blog cover photo as it was featured on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.  Below the entire 0.65-mile length of Interstate

Vicksburg Bridge (Vicksburg, MS)

  Located a few hundred feet downriver from the Old Vicksburg Bridge, the Vicksburg Bridge, or the “New” Bridge, serves as the city’s vehicular crossing of the Mississippi River on the main highway connecting Vicksburg with northeastern Louisiana to the west and the state capital of Jackson to the east. The completion of the original Vicksburg Bridge in 1930 was seen as a huge success and the bridge proved to be a profitable entity for both road and railroad interests along the path of the Dixie Overland Highway and the subsequent US Highway 80 corridor. In the years after the creation of the National Interstate Highway System, planning commenced on a new bridge at the site that would relieve the congestion on the existing bridge while providing for a more modern crossing of the river that would be safe for all vehicles. The construction of the new bridge at Vicksburg was completed in 1973 and its design intentionally mimics that of its predecessor nearby. This was due in large part