Lila C (also known as Ryan or Old Ryan) is a former settlement in

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was located southwest of Death Valley Junction, at an elevation of 2562 feet (781 m).

Borax Company

The settlement was connected by rail to the Lila C mine, which produced

Colemanite Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite. It was first described in 18 ...

for the

Pacific Coast Borax Company The Pacific Coast Borax Company (PCB) was a United States mining company founded in 1890 by the American borax magnate Francis Smith, the "Borax King". History The roots of the Pacific Coast Borax Company lie in Mineral County, Nevada, east of ...

, from which it got its name. The property was named by its owner

William Tell Coleman William Tell Coleman (1824–1893) was an American pioneer in the settlement of California. Early life William Tell Coleman was born in Cynthiana in Harrison County, Kentucky on February 29, 1824. He was educated at St. Louis University in Mis ...

, for his daughter, Lila C. Coleman.

Francis Marion Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisc ...

subsequently obtained the property and started the first

borax Borax is a salt ( ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular for ...

operations there in 1906. Production began several months before the

Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad was a former class II railroad that served eastern California and southwestern Nevada. The railroad was built mainly to haul borax from Francis Marion Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company mines located just eas ...

had reached the mine, and mule teams were used to cover the remaining distance until the railroad arrived. The name was also changed to Ryan at that time, in honor of John Ryan, "Borax" Smith's trusted supervisor."The Great Desert Railroad Race" Documentary written and produced by Ted Faye
/ref> The Ryan post office was opened here in 1906, and transferred to (new) Ryan in 1914. After that, Lila C was then also known as "Old Ryan."

References

External links

*Legends of America
Death Valley Ghost Towns: Lila C
Kathy Weiser, December, 2010. Former settlements in Inyo County, California History of the Mojave Desert region Mining communities in California Populated places in the Mojave Desert Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Former populated places in California Company towns in California {{InyoCountyCA-geo-stub