Search Results
Jim and Effie Spicer Papers
Identifier
MS-00216
Abstract
The Jim and Effie Spicer Papers (1979-1982) contain two chapters from the book The History of Pahrump Valley, which talks about the Spicers, newspaper clippings, and a transcribed copy of the diary of Jim Milligan, a miner from Nye County, Nevada.
Archival Collection
Interview with James Donald Merlino, November 7, 2004
Date
2004-11-07
Archival Collection
Description
Narrator affiliation: Sheriff's Office., Nye County (Nev.)
Text
Interview with Thornton Duard (T.D.) Barnes, January 12, 2007
Date
2007-01-12
Archival Collection
Description
Narrator affiliation: Special Projects, Area 51; NERVA & NASA; Roadrunners Internationale
Text
Photograph of horse teams and wagonloads of freight in the desert, 1900-1925
Date
1900 to 1925
Archival Collection
Description
Photograph of horse teams and wagonloads of freight in the desert, 1900-1925
Image
Dolly Strozzi Gillette: photographic print
Date
1987 to 1989
Archival Collection
Description
From the Nye County, Nevada Photograph Collection (PH-00221) -- Series VII. Other areas in Nye County -- Subseries VII.K. Miscellaneous.
Image
Denver, John
John Denver (1943-1997) was a popular country-folk singer-songwriter of the 1970s and was also known for his work as an actor, activist, and humanitarian. His popularity brought him to many different places including the Harrah’s Lake Tahoe property, where he performed along the likes of Frank Sinatra and hosted events like the Celebrity Ski Classics.
Person
Interview with Richard Van Nutley, November 8, 2004
Date
2004-11-08
Archival Collection
Description
Narrator affiliation: Safety Engineer, Department of Energy
Text
Film transparency of the ruins of possibly the John T. Overbury building, Rhyolite, Nevada, November 25, 1948
Date
1948-11-25
Archival Collection
Description
Film transparency of the ruins of possibly the John T. Overbury building, Rhyolite, Nevada. Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada. It is in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. During an ensuing gold rush, thousands of gold-seekers, developers, miners and service providers flocked to the Bullfrog Mining District. Many settled in Rhyolite, which lay in a sheltered desert basin near the region's biggest producer, the Montgomery Shoshone Mine. Rhyolite declined almost as rapidly as it rose. After the richest ore was exhausted, production fell. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the financial panic of 1907 made it more difficult to raise development capital. In 1908, investors in the Montgomery Shoshone Mine, concerned that it was overvalued, ordered an independent study. When the study's findings proved unfavorable, the company's stock value crashed, further restricting funding. By the end of 1910, the mine was operating at a loss, and it closed in 1911. By this time, many out-of-work miners had moved elsewhere, and Rhyolite's population dropped well below 1,000. By 1920, it was close to zero. After 1920, Rhyolite and its ruins became a tourist attraction and a setting for motion pictures. Most of its buildings crumbled, were salvaged for building materials, or were moved to nearby Beatty or other towns, although the railway depot and a house made chiefly of empty bottles were repaired and preserved. The town is named for rhyolite, an igneous rock composed of light-colored silicates, usually buff to pink and occasionally light gray. It belongs to the same rock class, felsic, as granite but is much less common.
Image
Film transparency of a boy looking at an abandonded building, Rhyolite, Nevada, November 25, 1948
Date
1948-11-25
Archival Collection
Description
A young boy looks at the ruins of the H. D. and L. D. Porter Brothers Store in Rhyolite, Nevada. Several other buildings are visible in the background. Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada. It is in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. During an ensuing gold rush, thousands of gold-seekers, developers, miners and service providers flocked to the Bullfrog Mining District. Many settled in Rhyolite, which lay in a sheltered desert basin near the region's biggest producer, the Montgomery Shoshone Mine. Rhyolite declined almost as rapidly as it rose. After the richest ore was exhausted, production fell. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the financial panic of 1907 made it more difficult to raise development capital. In 1908, investors in the Montgomery Shoshone Mine, concerned that it was overvalued, ordered an independent study. When the study's findings proved unfavorable, the company's stock value crashed, further restricting funding. By the end of 1910, the mine was operating at a loss, and it closed in 1911. By this time, many out-of-work miners had moved elsewhere, and Rhyolite's population dropped well below 1,000. By 1920, it was close to zero. After 1920, Rhyolite and its ruins became a tourist attraction and a setting for motion pictures. Most of its buildings crumbled, were salvaged for building materials, or were moved to nearby Beatty or other towns, although the railway depot and a house made chiefly of empty bottles were repaired and preserved. The town is named for rhyolite, an igneous rock composed of light-colored silicates, usually buff to pink and occasionally light gray. It belongs to the same rock class, felsic, as granite but is much less common.
Image