Midland, California facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Midland
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 Midland
Location in California
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| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Riverside |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
Midland was once a busy company town in Riverside County, located in the southeastern part of California. Today, it's known as a ghost town, meaning most of its buildings are gone and no one lives there anymore. It's found near the Little Maria Mountains, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Blythe. You can reach it from Blythe using Lovekin Boulevard and Midland Road.
Contents
Midland: A Desert Ghost Town
A Town Built on Gypsum
Midland was created in 1925 by the U.S. Gypsum Co.. This company mined huge amounts of gypsum from the ground nearby. Gypsum is a soft mineral used to make things like wallboard and plasterboard for building houses.
The town of Midland was built to support the mining operations. It had a large plant where the gypsum was processed. For a while, there was even a special railroad system. This railroad moved the gypsum from the quarry to the processing plant.
Life in Midland
Midland was a true company town. This means the U.S. Gypsum Co. owned everything in the town. They owned the homes, the stores, and even the services. At its busiest, about 1,000 people lived in Midland.
Getting water was a challenge in the desert. The town's water had to be brought in by train all the way from Blythe.
Why Did Midland Disappear?
Over the years, the gypsum found in the area became too heavy to mine easily. Because of this, the company's work in Midland slowly decreased. Finally, in 1966, the U.S. Gypsum Co. stopped all operations in Midland.
When the company left, the town became a ghost town. Most of Midland's buildings were taken down. Today, if you visit the site, you will mostly see just foundations where buildings once stood. In 1970, a large water tank from Midland was even moved to a new housing area in Blythe.
Midland's Hollywood Connection
Did you know that Midland played a small part in Hollywood movies? During the 20th century, many winter scenes in films used fake snow. A lot of this fake snow actually came from the gypsum mined in Midland!
A Unique Shelter
Before the town closed, something interesting happened in the 1960s. A gypsum mine located about 3 miles (5 km) west of the plant had been abandoned in 1948. This old mine was turned into the largest fallout shelter in the county. A fallout shelter is a place designed to protect people from nuclear fallout.
