Ryan (also known as Ryan Camp) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Inyo County, California Inyo County () is a County (United States), county in the Eastern California, eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the po ...

that is now privately owned and stewarded by th
Death Valley Conservancy
A former

mining community A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historical mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Bendi ...

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

, and seasonal hotel, it is now under careful restoration and preservation. Ryan is situated at an elevation of in the

Amargosa Range The Amargosa Range is a mountain range in Inyo County, California, San Bernardino County, California and Nye County, Nevada. The range runs along most of the eastern side of California's Death Valley, separating it from Nevada's Amargosa Desert ...

, and is northeast of Dante's View and southeast of Furnace Creek. The Ryan Historic District was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2025.

Name

The mining community of Lila C was constructed in 1907 near the Lila C mine, which produced colemanite 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 ...

. The town was named by its owner William Tell Coleman, after his daughter, Lila C. Coleman. Soon after its completion, the community of Lila C became known as "Ryan", in honor of John Ryan (18491918), who was General Manager of the

and a trusted employee of

"Borax" Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Oakland, California. He was known nationally and internationally as " ...

until his death in 1918."The Great Desert Railroad Race" Documentary written and produced by Ted Faye
/ref> The Ryan post office was opened at Lila C in 1907. When a new mining camp was first constructed to the northwest of Lila C in 1914, the new settlement was named Devar (misspelled as Devair on a 1930 topographic map) an acronym for DEath VAlley Railroad. The name was later changed to Ryan in honor of John Ryan and the old camp at the Lila C. The new camp is currently known as Ryan, CA or Ryan Camp.Scott Smith - Superintendent Ryan Operations for Death Valley Conservancy

History

Ryan was the western terminus for the

Death Valley Railroad The Death Valley Railroad (DVRR) was a Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge railroad that operated in California's Death Valley to carry borax with the route running from Ryan, California, and the mines at Lila C, both located just east of Deat ...

, the eastern terminus of which was located at Death Valley Junction near the

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.

works of the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the early 20th century. According to the Death Valley Conservancy, "Ryan was a luxurious mining camp by any standards of the day – with electricity, steam heat and refrigeration it also boasted a school, a hospital, post office, recreation hall/church (shipped down in sections from Rhyolite) and a general store." After borax production had stopped in 1928, in an effort to increase revenues on 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 ...

which had carried the borax ore, Pacific Coast Borax converted the miners' lodgings into tourist accommodations and gave tourists visiting

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...

trips on the narrow gauge rail line into the mine. The Death Valley View Hotel operated full-time from 1927 until 1930, the year the Death Valley Railroad ceased to function. After 1930 the hotel was used as overflow accommodations for the Furnace Creek Ranch and Inn through the 1950s. Th
Death Valley Conservancy
is the current caretaker of Ryan Camp. The donation of Ryan Camp to the Death Valley Conservancy was completed by Rio Tinto Borax Corporation on May 6, 2013. The Death Valley Conservancy is a nonprofit charity led by the former Rio Tinto Chief Executive of Energy & Minerals, Preston Chiaro, as the DVC's president.

Historic District

The Ryan Historic District was listed on the

in 2025. The historic district includes Ryan, remnants of the Death Valley Railroad and the Baby Gauge Railroad, the Upper and Lower Biddy mine complexes, road, and trails. The district was recognized as significant under National Register Criterion A due to its connections to the early 20th-century borax mining industry in Death Valley, the rise of Death Valley tourism, 1950s film, and Cold War-era civil defense programs. Additionally, it qualified under Criterion C for its distinctive yet unified representation of early 20th-century Pacific Coast Borax corporate vernacular-style architecture and innovative engineering. Lastly, it met Criterion D for archaeology.

Tours

While Ryan is closed to the general public for safety and historic preservation reasons, the Death Valley Conservancy offers occasional public tours. Tour participants can be selected by signing up on th
Death Valley Conservancy's Ryan Tours webpage

Climate

This area has a large amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air and high pressure. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Ryan has a

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

, abbreviated "Bwh" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Ryan, California
/ref>

References

{{authority control Ghost towns in Inyo County, California Mining communities in California Populated places in the Mojave Desert Unincorporated communities in Inyo County, California History of the Mojave Desert region History of Inyo County, California Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Unincorporated communities in California Company towns in California National Register of Historic Places in Inyo County, California