Beatty, Leeland, Ashton, Carrara, Gold Center, Rhyolite, Bullfrog, Gold Bar & Pioneer, Nevada

Beatty, Nevada

 Nestled between desert mountains along the main route between Las Vegas and Reno. It's also the eastern entrance to Death Valley.

Leeland

Leeland was founded in 1906.  The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad started its operations that same year. On October 15, 1907 a railway station was opened in Leeland and a regular train service for both passengers and cargo was created, as well as an office of Wells Fargo.  Both structures had dirt floors and lacked electricity and plumbing. The railway station was the first station on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad in Nevada across the border with California.

Leeland's station was used for the transportation of raw materials that were brought in from the mining settlement Lee, that was situated about 5 miles west of Leeland in California. Lee boomed in 1906. A stage line between the two settlements was established.  As Lee grew, Leeland grew with it: Leeland had six or seven inhabitants in 1909 and 25 by 1911.[On November 23, 1911, a post office was established.  Leeland had its heyday the next year and started to shrink afterwards, because Lee's economy collapsed.[2] Leeland's post office shut down on November 14, 1914.  By then, the place was still a water stop of the railway, but it was gradually forgotten. Leeland's railway station continued to exist until April 1931, when the station and other facilities were burned down by Jack Behresin, who committed suicide afterwards. Eventually, the tracks of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad were removed in the early 1940s.

Ashton

Ashton was a not so important small water stop on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad and no development ever took place there. When the railroad pulled up its rails, the site disappeared forever.  The only trace is the raised rail bed.

Carrara
The economy of Carrara was based upon a large marble quarry, in the hills east of the townsite. Marble deposits were first located in 1904. The townsite was laid out during 1911-1913 by the American Carrara Mable Company. The townsite was located on the valley floor below the marble quarry, along the tracks of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad.

May 8, 1913 brought about a grand dedication of the townsite, complete with a ball, music by a band brought down from Goldfield, baseball game, swimming in the town pool. A hotel, store and restaurant also served the town, which eventually inflated to about 100 residents. Unusual in the desert, Carrara could even boast its own town fountain.

Carrara Canyon
 Previously a railroad grade, the road runs straight for about 3 miles to Carrara Canyon on the southeast flank of the Bare Mountains to an old marble quarry. The quarry is about 1400 feet higher in elevation than the townsite.

Carrara Portland Cement Company was incorporated in November of 1940.

By April, 1941, the plant was beginning to take shape.

It was slated to produce two grades of cement: gray construction cement, and a high quality white cement using the crushed white Carrara marble from the nearby quarry.

Production was estimated to be at about 80 tons a day once the plant was completed, sometime in August 1941.  Unfortunately, a fire in July 1941 swept through the complex destroying numerous buildings.

Despite all of the time, money and effort invested, the cement plant was never put into operation.

Gold Center
The location of the town was ideal as it was on the stagecoach route to Rhyolite and Beatty. It was also near the Amargosa River, allowing sufficient water for drinking and for two mills and an ice house. Gold Center also sold water to Rhyolite and Carrara. The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad and the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad all ran through Gold Center. Gold Center also had the first brewery in the area which was built underground to maintain a cool temperature.

Today, little remains of the original town other than the foundations of a stamp mill.

Rhyolite Historic Gold Mining Town Site
Rhyolite is a ghost town with much character. With a population of over 10,000 at one time, Rhyolite was no small town. The town was founded in 1904 and by 1907 even had electricity. The bank building, was 3 stories tall and cost $90,000 to build. Ruins of its wall still stand today. The financial panic of 1907 took its toll on the town and businesses started to shut down. Then, the mines started to play out and by 1916 the power and light company had shut down and the people had moved on.

Las Vegas & Tonopah Depot

Erected June 1909.  One of three railroads that served Rhyolite.

We think this must have been the jail

Due to the bars on the windows

Tom Kelly's Bottle house
Around 1905, during the Gold Rush, Tom Kelly built this famous house in Rhyolite, NV. It was built with 51,000 beer bottles and adobe mud. Bottles were also used in the walkway to the house. Kelly chose bottles because "it's very difficult to build a house with lumber from a Joshua tree." It took him about a year and a half to build the three room, L-shaped building with gingerbread trim. He spent about $2,500 on the building with most the money for wood and fixtures. Some of the bottles were medicine bottles but most were Busch beer bottles donated from the 50 bars in town.

Goldwell Open Air Museum

"Art where it seemingly shouldn't be"

Tribute to Shorty Harris

Shorty was a legendary prospector in Rhyolite.  His hopeful cpmpanion, a penguin represents the artist who always felt out of place in the desert.

Ghost Rider

The Last Supper

Ghost Painter

Sit Here!

Bullfrog Mine

The city of Bullfrog is located one mile southwest of Rhyolite.  In August of 1904, gold was discovered, and within seven months Bullfrog was transformed from a tent city into a booming mining district.  Bullfrog was located within miles of its competitor cities of Rhyolite and Beatty, which were also booming. In 1905 the three cities shared two telephone systems, although Bullfrog had its own water line, post office, chamber of commerce, newspaper, and auto stages.  Rhyolite annexed Bullfrog’s commercial district in 1909, which ultimately led to the collapse of the city.  There is little to see today.

Gold Bar
 One of the small camps that sprung up around the Bullfrog/Rhyolite townsites. It's location was north of the Original Bullfrog strike. The town did manage to survive unlike several others due to its rich Homestake Mine and Homestake Mill. Close proximity to the northbound Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad made transportation of reduced ores much less costly. A small camp grew close to the base of the impressive Homestake Mill, with some substantial structures built to ensure permanence. However, by 1908 the recession caused by the Panic of 1907 caught up with Gold Bar, as well as nearby Rhyolite, and operations began to slow down and eventually stop. The Homestake Mill closed in May of 1908. Today the town site is nearly destroyed by modern strip mining, although the impressive ruins of the Homestake Mill dominate untouched ground just to the north of modern operations.

Homestake Mill ruins.

Mud Spring

Pioneer
Gold was discovered in Pioneer in 1907, and the Pioneer Gold Mine was immediately constructed.   Pioneer boomed quickly and became a popular mining center.  In 1909 the Pioneer was called the liveliest place in the state.  By March 1909, Pioneer had competing newspapers, a post office, and numerous shops and homes.  The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad and the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad each planned lines into Pioneer, but before construction began, the city was devastated by a fire in May 1909 that nearly destroyed all of the wooden structures.  The city partially rebuilt in 1910, but without the railroads. The Mayflower Mine reopened in 1910, and the Pioneer Mine installed a ten-stamp mill that operated until 1916.  Pioneer survived until 1940, but it never fully recovered from the fire of 1909.