In 1903, there were no buildings, no roads, and no people in what was to become Rhyolite. Only five years later, some 6,000 optimists lived in an area that was served by three different railroads and was the fourth-largest town in Nevada. But less than a decade afterwards, silence returned to this remote desert valley, as only a handful of people remained.

Howard Goldbaum is an Emeritus Professor at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. He taught courses in media (photography, audio, video, web design, and virtual-reality imaging) there for 17 years. He also served as director of the school’s graduate program. Before that, he was a professor and director of the Multimedia Program at Bradley University (Illinois). His long career in media included years working as a photojournalist and multimedia producer.