Rhodes Salt Marsh, Mineral County, NV
N 38° 16.357 W 118° 05.837
11S E 404017 N 4236632
These salt marshes are easily visible from Hiway 96 (Veterans Memorial Highway) in Mineral County, Nevada.
Waymark Code: WMFWDK
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 12/07/2012
Views: 14
Here is some information from the plaque at this location:
"Rhodes Marsh Station
Salt pools discovered and developed here in 1862, led to a thriving business by delivering salt to mining mills in Virginia City by camel. Up until this time, the salt was purchased from San Francisco at a rate between 120 & 180 dollars a ton. Sales were good until salt was discovered at Sand Springs in Churchill County and Rhodes couldn't compete in the Comstock market. The Marsh still supplied salt to Aurora Belleville and Belmont. Borax was also mined and shipped to Califonia for processing. In 1882, the Carson Colorado Railroad was built throug the area and moved tons of product to market.
Plaque Dedicated 1998
by Walker Lake Posse #6000
Outpost of Julia O. Bulette Chapter #1864
E. Clampus Vitus"
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Additional information:
Rhodes Salt Marsh was originally called Virginia Marsh. The marsh (salt pools) is located about 9 miles south of Mina, Nevada, and is about 200 acres in size. They were renamed after A.J. Rhodes around 1862 and quickly developed into a thriving business that was able to compete against other established salt production facilities (primarily from San Francisco). Camel trains hauled the salt from Rhodes Salt Marsh to the Comstock Lode near Virginia City. The business was not long lived, however, because just a year later, salt was found at Sand Springs in Churchill County, which stole Rhode’s major client. Rhodes continued to provide salt the small Nevada towns of Belleview, Belmont and Aurora, and also Borax, which was mined here beginning in 1881 and shipped to Alameda, California via the new Carson & Colorado Railroad. A post office opened in the vicinity of Rhodes Salt Marsh in 1893, but the area was abandoned by 1911. Today, only remnants of the town remain, including parts of an imposing wooden loading tower, one other building, and the salt marsh.
Science of the marsh: The marsh is about 200 acres in size and consists of approximately 4 feet of thenardite overtop of about 15 feet of mirabilite which is laid over about a foot of find silt and halite. (www.mincocam.org/ammin/AM22/AM22_307.pdf
Current commerce:
In April 2011, Capricorn Business Acquisitions Inc announced it was signing a geothermal lease with the BLM for 8,575 acres of land that included Rhodes Marsh with the intent to host power production facilities in that area.
Sources:
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silverstateghosttowns.com/rhodes.html (
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www.ghosttownexplorer.com/rhodes.shtml
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www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/01/idUS190670+01-Apr-2011+MV20110401
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