Tag Archives: Nevada

Rhyolite

humor, informational, national parks, personal, photograph, presentation, recreation, scenic, travel, , , ,

Places that you may never have heard of

I’m a dyed in the wool traveler. In my travels I sometimes run across a place that bears a “funny” name – a place that has an unfamiliar moniker.

Not long ago after taking in the scenic wonders of Death Valley National Park I pointed the rental auto towards my destination: Las Vegas

Shortly thereafter I encountered one of the places with a strange name.

I turned onto a side road and followed it a couple of miles to find a ghost town. Judging from the many weathered foundations here, Rhyolite must have been fairly active years ago.

The Overbury Bldg opened in 1905 housed offices.
The Rhyolite schoolhouse built about 1910 for 250 children
The Cook Bank was first occupied in 1907.
An artistic silhouette of miners at work

When I returned home I spent a few minutes to find out the history of Rhyolite.

The rhyolite mineral is a volcanic substance containing quartz. About 1904 rhyolite was discovered in the area and a large number of prospectors moved to the area in hopes to strike it rich. When electricity came to Rhyolite a large mill was built to mine and process the ore. But the 1907 financial panic soon affected the town, businesses and residents. The mines and mill slowed production and workers left. By 1916 the town was effectively shut down.

If you’re interested you can visit this ghost town by driving from Las Vegas to Beatty, NV and then driving on NV-374 west about four miles.

Still Interested?

Here are a few more places that you may never have heard of –

Argenta, Nevada
Aragonite, Utah
Dunphy, Nevada
Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Wamsutter, Wyoming

Beowawe

informational, nature, personal, photograph, recreation, scenic, travel, , , ,

Places that you may never have heard of

I’ve made countless cross country trips by car usually traveling our Interstate Highway system. When I pass by a “strange” name, I’ll jot the name down and do some research on the place when I return home.

One of these places is Beowawe.

Bewawe is located in eastern Nevada a few miles south of Interstate 80.

Some say that its name is derived from the Paiute language  who inhabited the area and means gate. But there are several other interesting and humorous tales about the origin of the town’s name which you can read here.

In the late 1800s, nearby mining operations sent the ore to Beowawe for shipment by rail. The railroad also brought supplies for the ranching operations. For decades it remained a small town to support the nearby ranching industry.

During the 1940s and 1950s several visits by the USGS to examine the hot springs and geysers in the Whirlwind Valley area where Beowawe is located. Researcher Nell Murbarger discovered that this “remote pocket in the mountains of north central Nevada with a colorful terrace and boiling pools provide an amazing spectacle for the few people who venture over the treacherous road that leads to this spot.”

Geyser Field in Whirlwind Valley, Bewawe – Photo Credit: Oleh Melnyk, 1978

In the late 1950s tests were conducted to determine if these natural hydrothermal features were capable of generating electrical power. Consequently a plant was built to capture the hot water and steam. Unfortunately the geysers of Whirlwind Valley disappeared with the plant’s construction.

BeowaweGeothermalNV
Photo Credit: “Plazak, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
 
Resources: Murbarger, Nell, “Geysers of Whirlwind Valley” Desert Magazine, January 1956, Vol. 18, Issue 1.  
To visit Beowawe take exit 261 off of I-80 and drive a few miles south.

Still Interested?

Here are a few more places that you may never have heard of –

Argenta, Nevada
Aragonite, Utah
Dunphy, Nevada
Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Wamsutter, Wyoming

Dunphy, Nevada

informational, personal, travel, , , ,

Places that you may have never heard of

I’ve been writing about places with interesting names. They’re mostly in remote areas of the country that are unfamiliar to most travelers. As I roam the roads, I keep my eyes open for these kind of places.

You can’t help by notice the large green signs along the road tell us where to find certain towns and interesting places. Once in a while I come across an interesting name and wonder what this place is all about. Dunphy is one such place.

In north central Nevada along the I-80 freeway is a sign for Dunphy. It’s located between the two better known towns of Carlin and Battle Mountain.

I found that the TS Lazy Ranch was started by an Irish immigrant named William Dunphy. Dunphy and other partners used the open ranges in this area as a large, successful ranching operation.

Barite, a mineral used in oil drilling process, was discovered in the area in the 1930s. The raw barite ore was shipped to Modesto, California to be processed. Not long after a mill was constructed along side the Western Pacific railroad to crush and ship the raw materials onward.

In 2014 the Halliburton Corp built a new 66,000 sq ft plant to process the barite.

The TS Lazy Ranch ranch is still in operation operation as a cattle ranch using modern management of the land, livestock and wildlife

For more info about the Halliburton Barite Plant click here.

Dunphy turns out to be another neat place with an interesting name.

These are more of my places that you may never have heard of

Aragonite, Utah
Argenta, Nevada
Beowawe, Nevada
Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Wamsutter, Wyoming