Midland, California

For the place in Kern County formerly with this name, see Midoil, California.
Midland
Ghost town
Midland

Location within the state of California

Coordinates: 33°51′40″N 114°48′08″W / 33.86111°N 114.80222°W / 33.86111; -114.80222Coordinates: 33°51′40″N 114°48′08″W / 33.86111°N 114.80222°W / 33.86111; -114.80222
Country United States
State California
County Riverside
Time zone Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) PDT (UTC-7)

Midland is a ghost town in Riverside County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of California. It is adjacent to the Little Maria Mountains and located about 20 mi (32 km) northwest of Blythe. It is accessible from Blythe in the south via Lovekin Boulevard and Midland Road, and from Rice in the north via Midland Road.

From 1925 to the 1960s, Midland was a company town owned by the U.S. Gypsum Co. The company had mined vast amounts of gypsum found in the area. Midland was also the site of a large plant that produced wallboard and plasterboard. For some time, there was a three part railroad between the quarry and the crusher, the last part being a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line running few miles.[1] The town's water was shipped from Blythe by rail.[2] At its peak, the town had a population of approximately 1,000.

Many winter scenes in Hollywood films during the 20th century utilized faux snow that originated from Midland.

In the 1960s, an abandoned gypsum mine 3 mi (4.8 km) west of the plant was converted into a fallout shelter.[3]

As the character of the gypsum found in the area was considered too heavy as the years went on, company activity in Midland subsided and then ended in 1966.

A majority of the buildings of Midland were torn down, and today only foundations remain.

References

  1. ↑ David F. Myrick (2001). Santa Fe to Phoenix: Railroads of Arizona. Signature Press. ISBN 978-1-930013-05-6.
  2. ↑ Valdez, Juanita (1988-06-29). "Ghost town remains north of Blythe". Palo Verde Valley Times.
  3. ↑ "Midland Fallout Shelter: The People, The Mine, And The Bomb". Palo Verde Valley Times. 1966-02-10.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.