Located near Death Valley, Nevada, the ghost town of Rhyolite offers visitors a view of the once prosperous mining city from the early nineteenth century. Gold discovered near Bullfrog Mountain, in 1904, led to the city’s establishment. The city of Rhyolite became a prosperous mining community in the Bullfrog Mining District, and many of the city’s inhabitants worked for the Montgomery Shoshone Mine. In addition to attracting treasure seekers the city and surrounding areas attracted the attention of big name investors such as Charles Schwab. The city’s population and capital expansion peaked in 1907 when the city gained access to electricity; however, by 1916 the city no longer received power and ceased to exist as a functioning city. The city’s prominence quickly rose and fell, because the main source of income, the mining industry, ceased.

During Rhyolite’s heyday, the city yielded impressive buildings, such as an opera house, a school, a railroad station, and a three-story bank. The school, which was also a three story building educated more than 250 students and cost over $20,000 to build. Visitors to Rhyolite can view both the bank and school buildings; however, neither building remains in the state in which constructed. Currently, both buildings resemble bombed out buildings, considering only their concrete exterior shells remain. Rhyolite is home to the Bottle House, the only building to have fared better than the rest of the ghost town, because of its appeal to tourists and the multiple restorations made to the home, including one made by Paramount Pictures during the mid-1920s. The Bottle House continues to attract visitors, who come to see the 25,000 bottles used to construct the home.