Tied in to the lore of the valley are the various mining towns that boomed and busted within just a few years. The largest one we visited was called Rhyolite. Their general store currently leaves something to be desired.
Mercantile Decay
I believe that this one was the old jail, viewed between the columns of some ancient building that I simply can’t recall. I’m pretty sure that the columns were the only part of it still standing, at any rate.
An Escape Proof Prison
This was some sort of hotel, I believe.
Four Star Accomodations
Of course the reason the city was built in the first place was for the mining. Unlike the small holes in Golden Canyon, these were fully dug shafts that would have been quite dangerous to enter. There were grates over the entrances to the most easily accessible ones, forcing me to shove the camera between the bars to get this shot.
Mining Done Right
This final shot is evidence of something a lot older than a ghost town. These are petroglyphs; etchings in the rocks made by the Timbisha Shoshone many years ago. There is no one currently alive who actually knows what they mean. The knowledge has been lost, even among the Timbisha Shoshone people still living in the valley.
Mysterious Petroglyphs
Tags: death valley, hotel, mine, petroglyph, prison, rhyolite
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