Rachel (Nevada)
Coordinates: 37 ° 39 ′ N , 115 ° 45 ′ W
The place Rachel is located at the southern end of the Sand Springs Valley in the desert of southern Nevada , which is characterized by low bushes , 185 km north of Las Vegas in Lincoln County .
Rachel, only separated from Highway 375 (" Extraterrestical Highway ") by a parallel sand track , is a small village with just under 100 inhabitants and the closest civilian living space outside Area 51 . Rachel is 21 km from the border with the restricted military area around Area 51 and about 43 km from Area 51 itself. The nearby Area 51 has made the place a pilgrimage destination for conspiracy theorists and UFO lodges who suspect a place where aliens would be explored since the late 1980s . A small pub, the Little A'Le'Inn , with pictures of UFO sightings on the walls and a proper pile of reading material on the topic, invites travelers to take a rest. Food and accommodation are also offered there. Some visitors even had their own encounter of the first kind there, in the form of unusual light phenomena along Highway 375, which is now officially called the Extraterrestrial Highway . In most cases, however, these phenomena could be traced back to fighter jets at the Nellis Range training area , which were carrying out target exercises along the highway.
The place basically consists of a trailer park with Mailbox Row at its center , a series of mailboxes, including one for mail from Rachel. The latter has existed since 2000. David Dawes and Jessica Landaw made a 1997 documentary called Rachel, Nevada about the small town.
history
The founding date of today's Rachel is assumed to be March 22, 1978, the day on which the Sand Springs Valley was connected to the electricity supply. The village was founded by D. C. Day, who owned a farm nearby and grew alfalfa . It was originally a settlement in connection with a tungsten mine that was abandoned in 1988 . The place was originally called Tempiute Village, later Sand Springs.
Its current name is derived from the name of the first and so far only documented child born in the Sand Spring Valley, a Rachel Jones. Rachel Jones was born on February 15, 1977 in her father's trailer. The residents celebrate this annually on the second Saturday in May with Rachel Day , on which a small parade is held.
Rachel had 500 residents in her prime, before the mine closed in 1988.
After a Facebook group called for the storming of Area 51 on September 20, 2019, the only restaurant is fully booked.
economy
The economic basis today is tourism , employment on the military airfield or a nearby test track and the cultivation of alfalfa on around 20 circular irrigated fields with a diameter of around 800 meters.
There are two businesses in the village: The Little A'Le'Inn and the Rachel Senior Center Thrift Store , a small shop for the most essential things in life.
The earlier near Union Carbide operated tungsten mine Tempiute Tungsten Mine since 1988 no longer in operation.
The Quik Pik Mini Mart , a petrol station operated by the founding family Rachels, the Days, has also not been in operation since winter 2006/2007, as a new owner drove the petrol station to ruin in 2006. The nearest gas stations are 60 miles south in Ash Springs or 110 miles north in Tonopah.
The store formerly known as Area 51 Research Center and founded by Glenn Campbell in 1993, in which books, maps and souvenirs were sold, no longer exists since November 2001.
Web links
- Rachel, Nevada website
- Rachel, Nevada in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 'Here we go again': Communities near Area 51 brace for influx of UFO tourists , NBC News from July 27, 2019.