Thanks to Frank “Shorty” Harris and Ed Cross, the town was founded in August of 1904. The motivation for such a deed was a strong one: gold. By the end of 1919 the gold fever was over. Population of about 3500-10 000 had left the town. Only the ghost had stayed behind.

Rhyolite is a light-colored volcanic rock with silica (SiO₂) content > 70 %

Constitutive minerals are quartz, feldspar and biotite. Rhyolite is erupted at temperatures of 700 to 850° C. High silica content plays an important role in increasing the rock viscosity and making eruptions very explosive.

One can see numerous look-alike ruins all around the place. An opera house, 2 hospitals, 19 lodging houses, 18 grocery stores, over 53 saloons, churches and of the last but not the least: the Red Light district once made Rhyolite a nice place to live.

All three pictures show ruins of $90,000 3-story J.S. Cook Bank building.

By Ivan Rabak

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