Rhodes, Nevada is a former rail station and Post Office on the

Carson and Colorado Railway The Carson and Colorado Railway was a U.S. narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mound House, Nevada, to Keeler, California, below the Cerro Gordo Mines. It was incorporated on May 10, 1880, as the Carson and Colorado ''Railroad'', and constru ...

Mineral County, Nevada Mineral County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,554, making it the fifth-least populous county in Nevada. Its county seat is Hawthor ...

History

Until 1862, salt was transported from San Francisco to the

Comstock Lode The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the U ...

Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, United States, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno, Nevada, Reno–Sparks, Nevada, Sparks Reno, NV Metropolitan ...

at a cost of /ton. In 1862, salt was mined in nearby Rhodes Salt Marsh. and transported using imported camels at half that cost. In 1863, salt was discovered at Sand Springs Marsh and found to be cheaper than salt from Rhodes Salt Marsh. In 1869, salt from Rhodes Salt Marsh was transported to

Columbus, Nevada Columbus was a borax mining boom town in Esmeralda County. Its remnants are located on the edge of the Columbus Salt Marsh. History In 1863, a group of Spanish miners discovered silver in the area. The Columbus mining camp was established two ...

and

Belmont, Nevada Belmont is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada, United States along former State Route 82. The town is a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is Nevada Historical Marker number 138. History Belmont was estab ...

. In 1874 and in 1882, one ton per day of

borax The BORAX Experiments were a series of safety experiments on boiling water nuclear reactors conducted by Argonne National Laboratory in the 1950s and 1960s at the National Reactor Testing Station in eastern Idaho.

was being produced. The Post Office was called Rhodes from October 1893 until October 1907 and then Dea from October 1907 until May 1908. In 1930, a

sodium sulfate Sodium sulfate (also known as sodium sulphate or sulfate of soda) is the inorganic compound with formula Na2SO4 as well as several related hydrates. All forms are white solids that are highly soluble in water. With an annual production of 6 mill ...

plant was built at Rhodes Marsh. By November 1932, Rhodes Marsh was producing one train car load per day and employing about 100 men. In about 1934, Germany started shipping sodium sulphate as ballast, which caused the price to drop, making mining at Rhodes Marsh unprofitable. In 1948, mining of sodium sulphate resumed, with the output going to a Florida paper manufacturer. At that time, all 30 of the employees were residents of

Mina, Nevada Mina is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, Nevada, Mineral County in west-central Nevada, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 95 in Nevada, U.S. Route 95 (3 ...

References

External links

* - includes photos {{authority control Mining communities in Nevada Ghost towns in Mineral County, Nevada Ghost towns in Nevada