'RHYOLITE:-
A fine-grained, light-colored, acidic volcanic rock. Rhyolite is chemically the equivalent of granite, and is thus composed primarily of quartz and orthoclase feldspar with subordinate amounts of plagioclase feldspar, biotite mica, amphiboles, and pyroxenes.
Rhyolite lava exhibits a typical banded structure produced by its flow pattern. Rhyolite lavas occur in continental and submarine volcanoes, especially island arcs, and in igneous dikes. Rhyolite lavas are typically highly viscous and are explosively ejected from volcanoes.'

So the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia informs us.

But it was because of the presence in the area of more valuable substances that the city of Rhyolite was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century!

RHYOLITE, the town, is located 4 miles west of the town of Beatty, Nevada on State Highway 374. By 1908 it was the third largest city in Nevada when the population approximated to 8,000 souls. It was intended that the city was to last forever. However, this was not to be, and today Rhyolite is just a ghost town.

Decaying buildings in the once thriving city (above and below)

The Cook Bank (above and below right) was the largest building in Rhyolite. A magnificent construction with floors made from Italian marble, electric light, telephone, indoor plumbing and expensive mahogany woodwork! The First Rhyolite National Bank eventually took over the Cook Bank and operated on the first floor. The United States Post Office was in the basement and functioned there until 1919. It was the last business to close in Rhyolite.

Rhyolite is a draw-card for photographers both amateur and professional......

......to where the relics of more prosperous times remain preserved in the dry desert conditions.