What is left of the sign for Coaldale

Warning:  Get yourself a cup of coffee and relax.  This is going to be a long one.

The isolation and decay of the abandoned “modern” buildings at Coaldale Junction, Nevada is a draw for photographers.  Abandoned about 1993, it seems that the people living and working in the area simply got up and left, discarding most or all of the furnishings in the gas station, restaurant (with bar and slots that has since been burned to the ground), hotel, and various other buildings.  Couple that with the scarcity of information about the place and intrigue sets in, spurring curiosity about Coaldale to drive speculation about its failure.

Some information I have come across in the blogosphere is interesting, though incorrect.  Coaldale didn’t spring up and die in a short period of time, as some report, but actually has quite a history to it.

Abandoned at Coaldale, Nevada

Though Nevada presently is probably most famous for gambling, (and prostitution secondly), it really came into being because of the vast amounts of gold and silver pulled, wrenched, hacked and blasted from its unassuming deserts and mountains, and after that, for a rich assortment of valuable minerals.

For instance, I believe that currently there is only one producing lithium mine operating in the world, and it is located pretty close to Coaldale. But I digress… Of all of its subterranean riches, coal has been notably absent, excepting around Coaldale.

There’s coal in them thar hills…

William (also identified as both “Uncle Billy” and “Jackass Billy”) Groetzinger/Groezenger, operating under a grub-stake agreement with William A. Ingalls of Candelaria (and later a sheriff of Esmeralda County), discovered the bituminous coalfields in the area in the 1880′s.  A short time later, Clay Peters and William Wilson, along with Groetzinger and Ingalls, secured government title for the location and by 1884 surveyed a townsite, marking the corners with “stone monuments without pits”.  The township was to extend over the low pass between the Monte Cristo and Silver Peak mountain ranges, sitting adjacent to the Columbus Salt Marsh.

As it turned out, it was prohibitively expensive to develop the coalfields on a commercial level, let alone to ship the product, and once the financial parties involved realized that, the plans were abandoned, though Groetzinger held onto his interest in the mines.  It appears that Billy continued to work the coal fields/mines on his own and in 1894 sold 150 tons of coal to the Columbia Borax Works, but it was much work for little profit.

Monte Cristo Mountains named earlier than 1871. Under BLM management, they are a popular rockhounding site with interesting geological features.

A Miner in Corset and Petticoats…

While Groetzinger labored to bring his coal to market, a remarkable woman was making her way in the mining world in the Tonopah and Goldfield area.  Though she didn’t sign the resolutions on the formation of the Goldfield Mining District on October 20, 1903, Dr. Frances Estelle Williams was present at the birth of the city just the same.  Just 9 days later she recorded her Valley View Placer claims in Goldfield, Nevada.

While women in mining camps were not completely unheard of, in the early stages of development if there were any around they were mostly prospector’s wives, and later as the miners prospered, often camp followers and other ladies of “questionable character”.  Not so with Frances, for remarkably she was a woman alone, having left her ailing and elderly husband in the relative comfort of San Francisco in order to pursue a fourth career at the age of 58, in the harsh and unforgiving environs of the Nevada deserts.

Coaldale, Nevada

No shrinking violet, Frances Williams led an extraordinary and unusual life for a woman of the age.  Born in New York in 1845 to English immigrant parents, Frances was responsible for the care of her ill mother at a young age.  Reportedly she married while in her teens, Dr. Peck, a decorated Navy surgeon, who died of heart failure shortly after they were wed.

The 1880 New York census finds her married a second time to Charles P. Williams, 20 years her senior, living with her 20 year-old son, James P. Williams.  The interesting thing about this is that according to the census it listed them as having been married in 1865 and James having a birthdate of 1860.  He may have actually been the son of the late Dr. Peck and later adopted by Charles Williams, though this is entirely my own speculation.  In any event, Francis gave birth to James when she was a mere 15 years old.

Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape…

Frances was a very ambitious and driven woman.  Charles, Frances and James ran a successful varnish business, in which Frances was entirely responsible for the financial success of the company due to her shrewd financial and business skills.  Frances and Charles sold the business and retired to Florida millionaires in 1884 (Frances was then 39 years old and Charles 59 years old), to grow oranges.  Unfortunately, they lost most of that investment when they lost their entire crop in a killing frost.  Never one to be kept down for long, Frances convinced her husband to move to Boston where she would obtain a medical degree (in the now defunct field of Electric Medicine) and open up a thriving practice from 1885 to 1901.

Lenticular clouds forming as the desert sandstorms rise

As her husband’s already delicate health continued to falter in the cold climes of the north, she convinced Charles once again to move, this time all the way across the country to San Francisco.  There, she opened up a thriving medical practice, but wasn’t content to remain for long.  In 1903, she moved to Tonopah, Nevada, and at 58 years of age, began the final career of her life in which she would make and lose great fortunes.

What does all of this have to do with Coaldale, you may ask?  Well, it gives you a bit of insight into the woman with great goals and aspirations; the woman who dreamed of building a city.

Prospector, Promoter, Wildcatter?

Frances had already been successful in the gold mining business.  Though she was a well know promoter, she had hands on experience in prospecting and staking her own claims, and organized many companies.  Among them were the Oro de Play at Long Mountain (1905), The Omega Group at Ray (1905), and a number of others that she organized into the St. Frances Gold Mining Company which she sold in 1906, only to turn around weeks later and organize the St. Frances-Mohawk Mining and Leasing Company in June of that year.  By Jan of 1907 that mine yielded more than two-million dollars and made Frances the richest woman in the territory.

He golden dreams shifted to coal when she overheard that the railroad was interested in Coalfield, as the stage-stop there was soon to become the rail-station of Coal Wells, for the Tonopah Railroad which was stretching south from Mina.  Striking while the iron was hot, she rushed to Coaldale and convinced Groetzinger to partner with her before any other promoters could take advantage of the opportunity.  On July 16, 1904, she and William staked a 1280 acre claim, 320 acres of which they intended for mining and the remaining 960 acres set aside for townsite purchases.

Coaldale, Nevada

She formed the Coaldale Coal Mining Company, the Nevada & Electric Power and Transmission Company and the St. Frances Mining and Smelting Company, which she organized into affiliate corporations.

She immediately began promoting the townsite and promised for an investment of $500.00:  1/4 acre of land at Coaldale, plus 2000 shares in each of the affiliate corporations, plus lifetime employment to skilled artisans, plus a promise of return on the investment within 6 months.

40 of the 960 acres were already plotted around a large central park.

Regular train service was established to Coaldale, in May 1904, though it didn’t yet reach to Tonopah and was met by the O’Keefe stages to transport passenger on that leg.  Ever the promoter, Dr. Williams convinced the railroad to rename the station from Coal Wells, to Coaldale, and to steam up the first engine making the complete run into Tonopah with local coal.

With the promise of a bustling townsite in the works, the post office was established in October 1904.

Monte Cristo Range

Death of a dream…

Dr. Williams often leapt before she looked.  This bold behavior was responsible for much of her fortune, as she was often able to snatch up opportunities while others were still considering them.  In this case, it did not work out for her.  Though she sold a large amount of stock over the next year, geologists from the U. S. Geological Survey determined that the coal might be good for steaming or the production of coal gas, but that it was not fuel grade.

In September 1905, the Nevada Power Mining and Milling Company extended electrical lines into central Nevada from Bishop Creek, California, obviating the future need for coal as a power source.

Frances saw the writing on the wall, and in 1905 she abandoned the venture.  Because her outrageous claims amounted to nothing, she was branded in the newspapers as a wildcatter, which she vigorously denounced as libel, filing a lawsuit for $50,000.00 against the Tonopah Bonanza, denouncing the “malignity and mendacity of this man” [ referring to William Booth - editor], and threatened publicly to horsewhip him (according to the Sacramento Evening Bee).  Shortly thereafter she was arrested on the charge  (and later exonerated by a Grand Jury) of threatening the life of a Goldfield lawyer over a land dispute.  He tried to eject her, and she drew her gun and ran him out of town, (and out of state as he retired to the safety of California).

Back on the horse…

Though her dream of creating a city turned to ash, Frances put that failure behind her and got back to business as usual.  During 1907 she split her time between San Francisco and Goldfield, tending to her ailing husband and her medical practice.

In January, 1908, her husband died, and she closed up her her medical practice to attend her Nevada interests full time.  In May of 1908 she claimed a lease at Hornsilver and organized the Frances-Lime Point Mine Company and two months later, her  Royal Flush interests  at Gold Mountain, she organized into the Frances Gold Mountain Mining Company.

At the same time, the country was experiencing financial woes nationwide, and Goldfield suffered devastating bank closures.  Frances lost a great deal of her fortune when the banks failed.  She also lost an investment to McKay & Co. in New York, a pair of broker arrested for mining frauds in 1909.  On top of it all, a lawsuit had been filed by another mining titan in Goldfield, against the Frances-Mohawk for improper timerbering.  It seems that it was too much weight for her to bear.  Shortly after the trail began, Frances retired from dinner to her home at the Grimshaw Hotel, and suffered a heart attack.  On March 24, 1909, this bold, business-savvy pioneer passed at the age of 64.

Coaldale soldiers on…

As for Coaldale, the city dreamed of by Frances never materialized, but a small community dug into the desert sands and survived for a time.  In 1907-1908 it boasted a population of 30.  Among them were R. D. Edwards (sold general merchandise and stood as Postmaster), De Remer & Richardson (mining business), H. G. Lower (miner), H. C. Petty (miner), W. R. White (Railroad and Express agent), and of course William Groetzinger, who ended up selling his titles to L. K. Koontz.

In 1907 Louis K. Koontz tried his hand at mining and selling coal at Coaldale after investing $50,000.00 in development.  He sold it to Goldfield residents as heating fuel, but it was such a bad grade that it melted the grates and ruined stoves, and he was nearly run out of town.

In 1911 a second USGS survey renewed interest in the area, as the survey indicated a better grade of coal at depth, making the production for coke or gas for electrical power a possibility.  Herman A. Darms took over Koontz’s interests in 1911, and T. E. Rouvenanck organized the Nevada Coal and Fuel Company the same year.

In 1923 the Reorganized Darms Coal Co. took over, but when Herman Darms died in 1946, coal development was over in Coalfield.

Carl Rieck lived in Coaldale from 1909 and operated a store and service station.

Jewel Parsons and her husband ran the Coaldale inn and Motel since the 1930′s, possibly taking over for Carl Rieck.

Others have come and gone as the years advanced in Coaldale, trying to eke out a living.  But when the EPA decided that the underground fuel tanks were a leaking environmental hazard in 1993, the gas station was closed for good.

With coal mining dried up, and the gas station closed, there was little reason for people to live in Coaldale anymore, let alone stop on their journey to distant destinations in Nevada.  Coaldale now, sees little but ghosts, vandals, and the odd photographer.

But first, a bit of history. (I know, I know… my inner geek is showing.)

Arguably the greatest of the gold boomtowns in Nevada, prior to 1903 only about a dozen souls scratched out a life in the area.  Needless to say, gold was discovered (a great deal of it, actually) and in its heyday, the population swelled to around 30,000. From 1903 to 1910, Goldfield was the largest city in Nevada.

A pair of enterprising men, Jim Butler and Tom Kendall, grubstaked two young prospectors, Harry Stimler and William Marsh, to search for the suspected location where Thomas Fisherman, a Paiute Indian, picked up a gold specimen he called a “picture rock”.  As luck and lots of difficult work would have it, they were successful.  Originally they hung the moniker, Grandpa, on the townsite, claiming it was the Granddaddy of all gold camps.  However, when the town site was officially formed, the committee decided that the name Goldfield was more appealing and would have a greater draw than Grandpa, and thus the town was born.

Lots in Goldfield were originally sold for $500.00 each, but it wasn’t long before they were going for ninety (yes 90!) times the original price.  As people with gold-fever poured into the town, lot jumpers and squatters became commonplace and chaos reigned. By 1905, so much gold was coming out of Goldfield that the London Financial News predicted that the world market for gold was on the verge of a crash.

Vacancy - Most of the buildings in Goldfield are empty, but not abandoned. There is an active historical society and plans are in the works to revitalize many of the historic buildings, though the plans are moving at a snail's pace.

I did not get photos of some of the more famous buildings in Goldfield, such as the high school, hotel or the Esmeralda County Courthouse, which is still in operation and doing a brisk business.  (Do not speed through Goldfield.  I think traffic tickets are a major source of funding these days.) I  did, however, get a few shots of the Goldfield Nevada Fire Station number 1.

Goldfield Nevada Fire Station - Still in business

There are a couple of noteworthy points regarding the fire station.  From a construction standpoint, it is the best example of random ashlar stone construction in Goldfield.  It is a simple, rectangular, two-story building.  The residents raised half the cost of the building through donations (of both land and labor), and the county made up the difference.  The second thing that I find noteworthy is that it is still in operation.  According to the Firefighting News, this station is still operating with a staff of 10 volunteers, responds to about 45 calls annually, and has a response time of about five minutes from page to en route, day or night.   Certainly, if any place needs a fire department, based upon their history, it is Goldfield.

A few highlights:

On July 8, 1905, fire started in the Bon Ton Millinery shop, when a stove there exploded.  As there was not enough water available to fight the inferno, it quickly spread to adjoining structures, consuming two blocks of businesses and homes before being extinguished with barrel after barrel of beer.

On November 17, 1906, Hotel Goldfield caught fire and it spread to several residences and tent houses, killing many people.

On April 12, 1911, The Merchants Hotel and three adjoining buildings burned to the ground.  It seems that the fire was caused when someone tossed a glass of water into the stove to create steam to blow the soot from the stove-pipe.  An explosion resulted and the force unjointed the pipe in a room on the second floor.  Hot coals scattered over the carpet and that was all she wrote.

July 6, 1923 saw the massive destruction of Goldfield by fire.  The flames originating from a still-explosion at T. C. Rea’s place, from which he operated a moonshine trade, (The Fire Chief, I. N. Galliac, believed it was the result of a bootleggers feud), quickly spread next door to the nearly adjoining Brown-Parker garage at 6:40 in the evening. Fanned by gale-force winds, the fire took on a life of its own, and despite the fire fighters’ best efforts with water and dynamite, the conflagration raged for five hours, unabated, until it finally ran out of fuel.  Though some residences were burned, the business district suffered the majority of the disaster, devastating the whole of main street, a total of about 25 blocks.

What is left of the Sideboard Saloon in Goldfield, Nevada. Built in 1907 by Patrick Mullin, Saloonkeeper, it was destroyed, ironically, by a fire originating from a still-explosion. The Ish-Curtis Building can be seen through the arch in the background.

Goldfield has a rich history as well as some myths, widely believed now as truths.  Some of its authentic history includes:   Virgil Earp came to Goldfield in  July 1904 found work as a gambler and eventually as pit-boss at the National Saloon.  1905 saw him sworn in as  deputy sheriff, but by October of that year he had died of pneumonia.  Contrary to what many claim, Wyatt Earp had little to do with Goldfield, other than an occasional visit to his brother.

Goldfield hosted the 1906 lightweight boxing championship between Joe Gans (Joseph Saifus Butts) and Oscar Nelson.  Joe Gans won by decision after a grueling 42 rounds.  The phrase, “bringing home the bacon”, was originated when the ring announcer read a note from Gans’ foster mother telling him, ” Joe, the eyes of the world are upon you. You bring back the bacon.”  Well, he did, and the phrase caught on.  Not only did Joe win, he won under very adverse conditions.  He had to cut his weight to an unnatural low of 133 pounds and became physically ill.  But the social pressure was greater even still, as he was an African-American man competing against a Caucasian in an era when such things were not done.

Tex Rickard, a saloon-keeper, promoted the fight, later earning even greater fame when he promoted Jack Dempsey’s million-dollar fights.

The Goldfield Hotel was once the most luxurious hotels in the west.  It featured an elevator that ran at 300 feet per minute, one of the fastest in Nevada, though not the first elevator west of the Mississippi, like most people believe.

In December 1907, Teddy Roosevelt sent 300 federal troops to quell an impending miner’s strike, as perceived by the mine owners.  Though there was some friction between mine owners and miners, there was no serious disturbance in Goldfield that warranted such a reaction.  It was a common practice for miners to “high-grade” or in plainer terms, steal gold ore by hiding it in their clothing, and the mine owners adopted a rule that the miners must change clothes before entering and after leaving the mines.  The mine owners also objected to the union formations of both miners and other laborers.  Once the federal troops arrived, they noted that there were no disturbances and no need for their presence, but were required to stay on in case their removal caused chaos.  The mine owners took advantage of their presence and immediately reduced wages and announced that no union workers would remain employed with the mines.  The miners, as they say, got the shaft.  That was the limit to Teddy Roosevelt’s contact with Goldfield.  He did not visit the city, nor, as popularly claimed, make a speech from the Goldfield Hotel’s balcony to a teeming throng below.

A few oddities:

A smallpox scare swept through Goldfield.  Dr. O’Toole, who greatly feared an epidemic of smallpox, also happened to be the deputy sheriff at the time.  His solution was to arrest anyone suspected of the crime of having smallpox.  In the first few weeks, he arrested 126 people before falling ill himself.  As it turned out, nearly all of those arrested for the crime of small pox were actually suffering from chicken pox, except, that is, for the doctor/deputy O’Toole, who himself had contracted a mild case of small pox, from which he eventually recovered.

Antique subway station entrances in Goldfield, Nevada. These were rumored to have been moved from Las Vegas to Goldfield, but their origins are unknown.

The Nevada desert has historically attracted unique, self-sufficient, independent thinkers, capable of transforming seemingly nothings into somethings.  The modern-day perhaps isn’t very different.  Drive north through Goldfield and you cannot miss the art car park on Highway 95.  Many of the cars there were the vision of  Robert “Rockette Bob” Van Keuren III.  The artist is may have departed, but his art will endure for a while yet.

Art Cars outside of Goldfield

And finally, I will leave you with a bit of my own art, created from a bit of Goldfield.  Hope you like.

Warning:  Shameless self promotion ahead:

If you enjoy rusty old antique autos, and might enjoy the sight of one adorning a wry birthday card, check this out.

Antique Car Birthday Card by Novelteeart
View other Auto Cards

I don’t intend to load you up with the history of the place this time, but instead to just provide you with a load of interesting black and white images.

If you are interested in Rhyolite’s details, or simply want to take in the multitude of color images, check out my previous two posts:  “Rhyolite – A Photographer’s Delight” and “Last Light at Rhyolite”.

In no particular order…

This was once the envy of the town, a fine house on Nob Hill.

One of the plentiful early 20th-century "can dumps" around Rhyolite.

Probably really difficult to make at in this small of resolution but the details are: Ladd Mountain of the Bullfrog Hill Range Center and right, Rainbow Mountain and Black Peak to the left with the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad Depot in the foreground of Rainbow Mountain.

Interior of the Union Pacific Railroad Car in Rhyolite

Caboose windows.

Miner's wood frame cabin.

View through the cabin. Notice the mattress springs on the floor.

Jailhouse Windows. I wonder how they bent those iron bars?

Hubby in a Cat-house

View of the Schoolhouse from Ladd Mountain

Mattress springs with Cook building in the background

Road out of Rhyolite toward the Amargosa Desert

Cook Bank Building Ruins with Gorrill Building Outer Wall to the (frame) right side.

Reflections of Rhyolite in Black and White

Sorry for the bad rhyme in that last picture caption; couldn’t help myself.

I won’t weigh you down with as much history as I did in yesterday’s blog post, but I can’t resist just a smidge.

Beginning as little more than a patch of desert nestled in the valley below several different peaks in the Bullfrog Hills, by June 1905 the  thriving little town boasted 50 saloons, 35 gambling tables, untold cribs, 19 lodging houses, 16 restaurants, a half-dozen or so barbers, a public bath house, and a weekly newspaper, the Rhyolite Herald.

Reflections of Rhyolite

By October 1906 Rhyolite enjoyed the conveniences of daily mail and auto service, express, telegraph, telephone exchange, two banks,  several newspapers, a modern hotel, three waterworks systems, and a fire department.

Buildings from left to right: Overbury Building, HD & LD Porter Store, JS Cook Bank Building. Saddle between Sutherland Mountain and Busch Peak in background.

By 1907, the little gold rush town in the desert was graced with concrete sidewalks, electric lights (including a network of 400 street light poles),  a monthly magazine, police and fire departments, a hospital, school, train station and railway depot, at least three banks, a stock exchange, an opera house, a public swimming pool and two formal church buildings.  I find the saloon to church ratio kind of funny.

Entrance to the National Bank Mine on Ladd Mountain. This is what Rhyolite was really all about.

Though the town experienced explosive growth from 1905 to 1907, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 had an impact on Rhyolite that nobody suspected.  That disastrous earthquake diverted capital from Rhyolite to California and interrupted rail service; but that was just the beginning of the trouble.  1907 saw the weakening of the American economy and a number of businesses and Wall Street brokerages went bankrupt.    By October a full-blown financial panic had erupted as the Knickerbocker Trust in New York City and the Westinghouse Electric Company both went belly up.  As businesses collapsed and the stock market plummeted, depositors made massive runs on the nation’s banks tipping the already nervous back-east investors over into an all-out panic.

Stone Chimney Ruins with collapsed barn behind.

As investors pulled their interests out of Rhyolite smaller mines began to close and the population began to trickle away.  Coincidentally the strikes began to play out at about the same time, and before long the brand-spanking new rail lines were carrying more people away from the town than they shuttled in.

Rhyolite house with Rainbow Mountain and quartz latite capped Black Peak in the background.

By 1909 the boom had gone bust and the population had shrunk to 1000 souls.

Sun going down on the mercantile.

By 1910 the population had decreased to 675.  All three banks had closed.

A miner's cabin as the hour grows late, resting at the foot of Ladd Mountain.

In March, 1911, the largest operating employer, Montgomery-Shoshone Mine and Mill, ceased operations.

The golden light fading away from Ladd Mountain above Rhyolite.

The post office closed in November 1913.

Private structure against the Bullfrog range at sunset. The sparkly things on to the left of the frame are water and pop bottles attached to the fence.

The last train left Rhyolite Station in July 1914.

Sunset over Death Valley

By 1915 there were only 20 people left in Rhyolite.

Last Light as seen from Rhyolite.

In 1916, the Nevada-California Power Company turned off the electricity and removed its lines.

As the populace poured out of Rhyolite, the standing structures were stripped for building materials or in some cases moved to other locations entirely.  What you see today is little more than a shadow, a distant echo, of Rhyolite’s grandeur, but oh, what a grand old gal she was!

On my previously mentioned trip to Nevada, hubby and I stayed a few days in Beatty so we could capture Rhyolite in all of its decaying glory.  I don’t have any stats to back up my opinion, but it is probably one of the most photographed locations in Nevada.  But I couldn’t help myself… I had to add to the throng.

One of the challenges of photographing such a popular location is to find new and interesting ways to memorialize someplace/thing that has been snapped to death.  With that challenge in mind, I ended up with loads and loads of images, which I will share over the next several posts.  My bloggings tend to be image-heavy, which sometimes seems to kink up the workings when I go to publish them, so bear with me as I parcel the eye-candy out over the next few days.

If you are inspired by these images to take a trek out to Rhyolite, a word of warning.  The desert is rife with many kinds of rattlesnakes.  The first shot is of Rhyolite Randy, our official greeter.  Unfortunately, he was none too happy to see us, and after several warning rattles and some pretty serious feints in our direction, he went on his way.

Mohave Desert Sidewinder

Rhyolite has some pretty interesting history.  Before August 1904, there were only three families living in the Beatty, Nevada area.  Then lightning struck.  Two prospectors, Ed Cross and Shorty Harris, discovered gold in Bullfrog Mountain (named for the greenish-blue mineral, chrysocolla, in which the gold was found, not because there are loads of bullfrogs in the Amargosa Desert),  and by August 1905, there were more than 4000 people looking for gold in “them thar hills”.

Panoramic View of Rhyolite, which once boasted a population of about 10,000 souls.

In February of 1905, the townsite of Rhyolite was platted.  Original town lots sold for $50.00 each, but several months later, under the law of supply and demand, lots were selling for $1200.00.

One of the grandest buildings in Rhyolite, both in its heyday and today, (was) is the John. S. Cook & Company Bank Building.  Standing in its three-story glory on the southwest corner of Golden and Broadway Streets, otherwise known as Ramsey Corner, it boasted reinforced concrete walls 26 to 36 inches thick, and its amenities included a stairway of Italian marble, Italian stained glass windows, and mahogany baseboards imported from Honduras.  But what is a bank without a vault?  The Cook vault weighed 6,600 pounds and could hold one-million dollars in coin, though I am assuming when that statement was made, they weren’t talking about pennies.  The magnificent building was under construction in 1907 and opened for business January, 1908.

John S Cook & Company Bank Building Ruins

A few blocks down Golden Street still stands the H.D and L.D Porter store.  With a nose for commerce, the Porter brothers arrived in Rhyolite with 18 wagons full of merchandise at the beginning of the boom in 1905.  They quickly established themselves as leading merchants, keeping warehouses in both Bullfrog, one mile to the south, and Rhyolite proper.  They supplied the miners and townspeople with groceries and fresh vegetables, clothing and accessories, mining supplies, hardware, lumber, furniture, hay, grain, and Studebaker wagons from this store, as well as offering freight animals for rent. Their slogan was, “We handle all good things but whiskey.” After outgrowing their original store on the corner of Main and Esmeralda, which they established in 1905, the enterprising brothers constructed their shiny new concrete building with huge picture windows, which they opened for business in November 1906.  All that remains now are some decaying walls and a hole in the ground where the basement once lay.

Rear facing view of the Porter Store

Another prominent building still standing is the Schoolhouse.  Though it isn’t the original Rhyolite Schoolhouse, which was blown down by a windstorm in September 1906 (the 250 enrolled children forced to take their education in the county hospital building), a vote at the town meeting established that a new school would be built at the cost of $20,000.00.  No windstorm would blow this house down as it was constructed of concrete with a galvanized Spanish iron tile roof.  Once construction was complete, Rhyolite was the proud owner of one of the best school buildings in the state.  Unfortunately, when the school opened in the 1907-1908 school year, it found its classrooms nearly empty as the population of Rhyolite was in steep decline.

Rhyolite Schoolhouse

Rhyolite grew so quickly and so large that in no time at all, three railroad lines serviced the town.  The Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad steamed into town September 30, 1907.   The Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad began regular service into Rhyolite June 18, 1907.  The third line, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad didn’t have any depots in Rhyolite or Beatty, using but used the Bullfrog-Goldfield and Las Vegas & Tonopah facilities between 1908 and 1940.

The Las Vegas and Tonopah depot was built to last and is one of the few nearly intact buildings still standing in Rhyolite.  Stone block from which the structure was built was quarried and transported from Las Vegas.  The depot featured separate men’s and ladies’ waiting rooms, the men’s to the left of the entrance, and the ladies’ to the right. Operation of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad ceased October 30, 1918. The rails were pulled up to support World War I efforts, though the depot still stands.  The lovely, mission style building served as a casino for a while as the Rhyolite Ghost Casino, but it stands in quiet decay now, behind chain link and barbed wire.

The backside of the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad Depot, standing on the former Nevada street between Golden and Main Streets

Speaking of railroads, this Union Pacific caboose sits close to the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad Depot.  Near the end, the LV&T was owned by Union Pacific.  The L.A. & S.L. on the caboose stands for Los Angeles and Salt Lake which was another railroad line that the Union Pacific later acquired.Eventually this car was pressed into service as a makeshift gas station.

Union Pacific Caboose with a bit of Rainbow Mountain in the background.

As you can imagine, with the rapid growth and the unstemmed flow of money, Rhyolite had its share of lawlessness.  Some of the headlines from the day were, “TWO MEN KILLED IN SHOOTING SCRAPE IN TOWN OF RHYOLITE”, “MINER MURDERS WIFE; IS SHOT DEAD BY THE SHERIFF”, and “BURRO THIEVES INFEST CAMP, OVER ONE HUNDRED STOLEN OUT OF RHYOLITE”, culminating in, “CAMP OF RHYOLITE TO HAVE A NEW $7000 JAIL”.  Frustrated citizens formed a vigilance committee to rid the town of objectionable and suspicious characters, who have been making that locality a rendezvous.  Apparently the sheer amount of scofflaws and ne’er do-wells made the jail a financial necessity as the miscreants were routinely transported to the nearby jail at Bullfrog at the cost of $15.00 per day to rent a horse rig for that purpose.

Rhyolite Jail with barred windows and iron doors

It might have been a good idea to more thoroughly examine the prisoners for weapons, as the jail door is pocked with bullet holes, from the inside out.  In case you are wondering, the doors are welded shut so there is no way anyone will ever see the inside of these cells again.

Jailhouse door. Can you see the bullet holes?

Nearly directly across the street from the jail are the remains of the adobe dance hall.  Both the jailhouse and the dance hall are standing in what was the Red Light district of Rhyolite.  The Red Light district was established in February 1907 and restricted to the north by Broadway Avenue, on the south by Colorado Avenue, on the west by the alley between Main Street and Amargosa Street and on the east by Ladd.  The business proprietors were given 48 hours to move, either in or out of the district.  Saloon keepers were notified that  women must be barred from saloons outside the district, or the offending places would be forced to close.  Women of a certain reputation were not allowed west of the boundaries, but could travel east as far as they desired.

The Adobe Dance Hall was a pretty rockin’ place in its day.  It boasted both a dance floor and a bar, and a long hallway ran along the dance floor leading to several small rooms in which some of the paid women entertained their male guests for short amounts of time.  It was one of the larger buildings in Rhyolite and the miners were parted from their hard-earned cash for a dance, a drink or a dalliance.

Walls of the Adobe Dance Hall

There is still one crib standing in Rhyolite’s Red Light District.  Inside, you can see evidence of both vandalism and recent rehabilitation efforts.  I wonder which will win out in the end?  If you peer closely at the window, you will see my jokester of a hubby grinning through the dirty window glazing and showing off something shadowy and indistinct.  What, you ask, is he doing?  Well, he is holding up a bent, twenty-two penny nail that he picked up out of the desert dirt.  That way, he tells me, he can say he got nailed in a brothel in Rhyolite.  Har, har.  I had the last laugh later when he sat on that nail, forgotten in his back pocket, complaining for two days that the seats in the car were wearing out and poking him in his posterior.  Yes, I had the best laugh in the end.

Two room crib in Rhyolite with a comedian within

As I haven’t begun to make a dent in the images, I have saved some really good photos for tomorrow.  Come back to see more!

I have not sorted through all the images yet, but I thought I would share a few from Red Rock Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas. If you have read some of my earlier posts you will know that I am a sucker for rock formations. Though very different from what I normally shoot, it is no less stunning. The images have a nearly surreal quality to them because the colors are so vibrant, but I swear, I did not boost any colors while editing them.

I hope you enjoy!

I thought I would begin with this one to give you some idea of the scale of the place.

Red Rock Canyon is a National Conservation Area administered by the BLM.  The scenic drive through the canyon is a 13-mile loop which will bring you to and through many different sandstone and limestone formations.  It appeals to photographers, rock climbers, horseback riders and hikers.  It is well worth the price of entry to get a glimpse of some of these formations up close and personal.

Red Sandstone

Calico Hills Formation

The sandstone is soft and easily erodes under the elements. There are some places in the park that you may not rock climb within 24 hours of rain because the sandstone becomes brittle, allowing hand and footholds to break or gear to pull out.

The nature of the hard and soft pockets of rock has allowed nature to erode it into some interesting shapes.

Calico Hills

More interesting formations

One of my favorite rocks there, with Yucca in the foreground.

More erosion patterns

Looking down. Can you see the tinaja where the water gathers in the stone tank?

Yellow and red sandstone before grey limestone.

Turtlehead Peak

This is the view from High Point Overlook. You can see the Calico Hills formation and in the shadow to the right, Las Vegas in the background.

Finally, I will leave you with a black and white image.  It seems strange to want to produce black and white in such a colorful place, but here it is anyway.

Slot canyon and cloudy sky

What a cutie!

I have featured this image on a Christmas Card, postage stamp and mousepad. The postage has to be approved so I don’t have an image of the stamps yet, but you probably get the idea.

Enjoy this cutie pie!

Cute Puppy Christmas Card by Novelteeart
Browse more Dog Cards

Christmas Puppy Mousepad by Novelteeart
Browse Christmas Mousepads

To help you get inspired, I thought I would post a few shots of Rosie and Chewy. These two cuties came to me originally as puppies, but as you can see, they are all grown up. Their maturity hasn’t diminished their cuteness factor one iota. Enjoy scrolling through their Christmas-themed photo shoot, below.

Rosie

Chewy

 

Don’t wait too long to book your holiday sitting.  Christmas will be here before you know it!

Hubby and I took the opportunity to trek out to one of the lesser known gems of Central Oregon.  The Proxy Falls (plural) are technically located in Lane County, though they are within easy reach of Sisters, Oregon.  Even if you don’t exit your vehicle and make the short hike to the viewing area, the drive itself is beautiful in the Fall, as the ferns fade to yellow and the vine maples begin their colorful display of golds, oranges and reds.  Locate them in the Willamette National Forest off of the scenic McKenzie Highway (Highway 242).

Here are an abundance of images from the trip.  I hope you enjoy them.  If you do like them, I have added some of these images to my Zazzle products.  I have enabled a few of them as links to some products, or if you would like to check out my store, give me a click.

We began our day in the fog.

Fall colors, fog, and forest.

Golden Treasure

Hidden Path through the Foggy Autumn Wood

Trailhead Sign

On the way to Proxy FallsLower Proxy Falls

This is not the view you get at the end of the trail.  If you have a taste for adventure, take the scramble trail for a better view. It is steep, slippery, and you will need to sit or lean against the hillside, or stand perched above the crystalline pool for a good view. Take a look at the log (picture below)we had to scramble over in order to get where we wanted to be. No, it isn’t a standing tree, but a fallen log. That gives you an idea of the steepness of the terrain.

Fallen log we had to climb over. It has fallen against the steep terrain.

This shows a bit of the pool that this falls empties into, which I was perched on a steep incline above for this shot.Some of the Tolkienesque landscape along the trail to the Proxy Falls proper.

We are expecting Hobbits any moment to open a hamper for second breakfast and pull up a moss covered stump. I know. What a nerd.

 

Autumn Beauty

 

Dewdrop on Autumn Vine Maple Leaf

 

The fog is beginning to clear.

Proxy Falls as viewed from the Outlook.

Though we had finally made it to the outlook area for Proxy Falls, hubby decided we could get closer if we took another scramble trail to the bottom.  I’m game.  There is more beauty to be found on the way down this steep and  slippery route (I wouldn’t call it a trail, but more like footholds between exposed roots and rocks on the way down the steep terrain.

Pretty Creekside Scenery on the way to Proxy Falls

Another bit of the creek.

A bit of what you must get through or over to get there.

First glimpse of Proxy from the base of the falls.

Proxy Falls from top to bottom from the base.

Proxy Falls Detail

Yellow

Fog against the Lava

 The fog finally began to lift as we made our way out of the dense trees.  The sun lit the vine maples like living flame.

Wild Mouse Poses for a Portrait

 We noticed a bit of wildlife on the way back to the trailhead.  This little guy enjoyed his sunbath, though he insisted on keeping his face in the shade.  Amazing how close he let me get.

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