Rhyolite, Nevada, is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of 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 raising development capital more difficult. 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 was close to zero by 1920. After 1920, Rhyolite and its ruins became a tourist attraction and a setting for motion pictures.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyolite,_Nevada

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1066:

William the Conqueror and his fleet of around 600 ships landed at Pevensey, Sussex, beginning the Norman conquest of England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England

1901:

Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas killed more than forty American soldiers in a surprise attack in the town of Balangiga on Samar Island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balangiga_massacre

1972:

Paul Henderson scored the game-winning goal against Vladislav Tretiak, securing a Canadian victory in the Summit Series over the Soviet ice hockey team. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Series

1978:

Pope John Paul I died only 33 days after his papal election due to an apparent myocardial infarction, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_I

1994:

The ferry MS Estonia sank while commuting between Tallinn, Estonia, and Stockholm, Sweden, claiming 852 lives in one of the worst maritime accidents in the Baltic Sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

meadery: A place where mead is made. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meadery

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle. --Confucius https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius