This post is part of an occasional series where we visit some of the world’s most interesting abandoned places.

A couple of hundred kilometres northwest of Las Vegas lies the former mining town of Rhyolite, one of the largest ghost towns in Nevada.

Founded in 1904, the town had an initially huge level of growth, but it was abruptly abandoned just a handful of years later. Today the eerie remains of Rhyolite which still survive here in the desert provide us with a fascinating look into America’s past.

The town was named for the richest ore in the area, rhyolite; but it was a gold rush in the nearby hills that propelled the population to around 4,000 just three years later.

By this time the town had water mains, electricity, telephones, a hospital, a bank, an opera house, a school, the railroad, and (allegedly) 53 saloons.

The ruin of the Cook Bank Building; and as it was in its heyday.

By the end of 1910 the Montgomery Shoshone Mine - the town’s lifeblood - was operating at a loss, and in 1911 it closed for good. With the mine gone there was nothing to keep the people here any longer, and by 1920 the population of Rhyolite was effectively zero.

Rhyolite School today; and as it was in 1915, already looking deserted.

One of the best surviving buildings in Rhyolite is the former Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Depot. It’s unusual for ghost towns in Nevada¹ to have this many buildings remaining - the survival of these ones in the harsh desert environment is thanks to their construction using materials other than wood and canvas. Like the house made of tens of thousands of beer bottles.

Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Depot today; and under construction in 1908.

The buildings here won’t last forever, but the fact that they have survived this long is impressive enough.

Vimeo has a good video tour, Flickr has a ton of photos, and the official site has a wealth of absolute fascinating historical photos.

Today we’re investigating a trio of bear sightings in cities across the United States.

First we visit Denver, where a strange blue object visible from above is revealed by Street View to be a giant blue bear peering through the windows of the Colorado Convention Centre.

This 12m high steel and fibreglass sculpture titled I See What You Mean by artist Lawrence Argent was installed in 2005.  And in case you’re wondering, here’s what it looks like from the inside!

Another large bear adorns the exterior of a casino in Elko, NV to promote their star attraction.

The statue is a replica of White King - 3m tall and weighing 1000kg - claimed  to be the largest polar bear ever killed. The stuffed bear is on display in the casino’s coffeeshop.

And finally to Detroit, and bears of a different kind - teddy bears and stuffed toys of many kinds create the ‘unique’ decor of this house on Mt Elliott Street.

While you may wonder about the affect on local property values, it is actually part of a neighbourhood art project.

Thanks to lyrics_guru.

This is the second in an occasional series where we’ll be travelling to some of the world’s most interesting abandoned places.

Fuelled by the ancient myth of the lost continent of Atlantis, underwater cities have always been the subject of much fascination.

Of course in real life small towns and villages are sometimes subsumed beneath changing bodies of water, but somewhat surprisingly, Google’s imagery has managed to capture at least three underwater towns which were all handily above water at the time.¹

St. Thomas, Nevada

Back in 1871, the small town of St. Thomas, Nevada (Wikipedia) was first abandoned by the Mormons, after a shift in the state line severely altered their tax liability.

The people who claimed the empty properties would eventually be forced to leave themselves, thanks to the construction of the Hoover Dam and the creation of Lake Mead, which even today is the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the United States.

The Hoover Dam was completed in 1935, and just three years later the last resident of St. Thomas was forced to leave by the rising waters of Lake Mead. Here we can still see the outline of the town’s school, which like several other properties becomes visible when the reservoir is low.

Adaminaby, Australia

Adaminaby (Wikipedia) is a town near Australia’s Snowy Mountains, New South Wales, which has the distinction of being one of the highest towns in Australia², and a very popular place from which to take fishing trips to nearby Lake Eucumbene.

On Street View we can see The Big Trout that graces the town centre in recognition of fishing’s importance here.

This is strange though, as it was the creation of Lake Eucumbene that forced all of the residents to have to abandon the original town…

In April 2007 the ongoing drought³ in this region brought the water level so low that Old Adaminaby began to re-appear, 50 years after it had been flooded as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme hydro-electricity project.

Unfortunately the structures themselves are only faintly visible from up here, but elsewhere on the shores are other more prominent ruins that are also becoming exposed.

(Try turning on the photos option on Google Maps to see lots of great ground-level photos from the Panaramio Google Earth layer.)

Epecuén, Argentina

In contrast to these tales of towns being submerged in the name of progress, sometimes nature just takes its course. From about 1920 the water level of Argentina’s lake Epecuén rose steadily, and in 1978 the locals put earth and stone defences in place to try and protect their village.

These defences held back the water until November 10th 1985, when it finally broke through and flooded the village four metres deep. Here we can see the various buildings jutting from the surface of the lake.

Judging by the number of photographs available online, it seems that Epecuén is a popular destination for photographers, so there’s loads of ground-level photo sets to see - including this rather nice one on Flickr.

Thanks to Claude Warren and kjfitz.

Yesterday Google released a major update to Google Earth, adding 3D oceans, a Mars browser and, best of all, historical imagery for much of the globe.

In some places the images go back decades, such as this shot of the Las Vegas strip from July 1950.

When compared with the current view you can see how the strip expanded around the airport, which was in the middle of a barren desert.

Manhattan island also has images for many different years, and going back to April 1994 we can see the World Trade Centre towers.

Although there’s a wealth of new images we’ve never seen before, the update also gives us back lots of great shots that had previously been removed.

Way back in May 2005 we posted a stealth bomber that had been spotted at Edward’s Air Force Base, but later vanished with an image update. Now, by scrolling back to March 15th 2005, the bomber re-appears.

Or, if we keep going back until May 1994 we can see a couple of Blackbirds instead.

We can also revisit one of my favourite sights from the Google Sightseeing archives, the SS American Star.

These days it’s almost completely submerged, but step back through time until 2000 and you’ll see it rise out of the water and right itself.

So, get browsing the archives, and let us know what’s returned!

Caution arachnophobes, many parts of the world appear to be home to giant spiders, thankfully all in the name of art.

First up, a giant bug on top of a building in Reno, Nevada.

This spider sculpture was created by artist David Fambrough. It consists of the body of a VW beetle / bug (depending where you live) with huge metal legs. Some people wanted to squash the impressive looking bug, but it has been granted a reprieve and will instead be moved to another part of the city.

Controversy can also surround the bronze or steel casts of Louise Bourgeois‘ sculpture Maman, which can currently be found in 8 different location worldwide. In my home town, Ottawa, there’s a 10m tall Maman which cost $3.2millionCAD, though it quickly became a popular local icon.

Maman can also be found outside art galleries in Bilbao, Tokyo and Seoul.

In Kansas City Maman isn’t visible on Google Maps, but Street View reveals that she is happily menacing two women and a (doubtless quite traumatised) baby in a stroller.

Maman also lives in St Petersburg, Paris and Havana, but I can’t track her down on Google Maps or Google Earth. Let me know if you can!

Finally, giant spiders must spin giant webs … like this one in Colorado, which appears to be at least a couple of hundred metres wide.

Thanks to Steve and Bleij.