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Rhyolite
A Nevada boomtown gone in a decade
Rhyolite, on the edge of Death Valley in Nevada, boomed almost overnight after a 1904 gold strike, reaching perhaps 5,000 people with concrete buildings, electric light, and a stock exchange — and then collapsed just as fast when the mines failed and the 1907 financial panic hit. Within a decade it was nearly deserted. Its striking ruins, including the shell of a three-story bank and a house built of bottles, sit beside the Goldwell Open Air Museum.