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Ryan House and Lost Horse Well
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
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Nearest city	Twentynine Palms, California
Coordinates	33°59′6″N 116°8′52″W / 33.98500°N 116.14778°W / 33.98500; -116.14778
Built	1890
NRHP reference No.	75000175
Added to NRHP	June 5, 1975

The Ryan House and Lost Horse Well are historic ruins in Joshua Tree National Park, California, United States. It was established by the family of J.D. Ryan, the later developers of the Lost Horse Mine, which became the most profitable mine in the area. The Lost Horse Well at the Ryan Ranch supplied water to the Lost Horse Mine, 3 miles (5 km) south and 750 feet (230 m), by pipeline. The popular park destination Ryan Mountain is named after him.

The six-room house was built as an adobe residence in 1896 with later wood frame additions. It was destroyed by fire August 12, 1978. Originally roughly 30 by 40 feet (9 by 12 m), the ruin has three rooms, each measuring 12 feet (4 m) wide and 16 feet (5 m) long. Adobe walls sit on stone masonry foundation, and there are concrete stoops on the north and south sides. There is a small stone fireplace located on the east side of the house.

A small cemetery is near the ranch with about 10 graves.

Ryan was a wealthy rancher who in 1895, bought out one of the main mining interests in the area from Johnny Lang. He located a steam-powered mill, large at the time, near the Colorado River, then had it disassembled to move it to the Lang mine site. In this desert area, he was able to provide the steam for the mill by building a 3.5 mile long, 2" pipeline from wells at his local ranch, now a historic site known as Ryan House and Lost Horse Well, to a reservoir near the mill. Fuel to run the pumps piping the water up the needed 750 feet (230 m) elevation gain was provided from burning trees from nearby desert mountains. The deforestation that resulted is still visible in 2014, in the denuded hills.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. "Ryan Ranch House Ruin". List of Classified Structures. National Park Service. November 17, 2008.
3. ^ F. Ross Holland, Jr. (December 1971). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Ryan House and Lost Horse Well or Spring" (pdf). National Park Service.
4. Zarki, Joseph W. (2015). Joshua Tree National Park. Charleston, SC: Arcadia (Images of America). p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4671-3281-7.
5. "Joshua Tree National Park, Lost Horse Mine". National Park Service.

• Zarki, Joseph W. (2015). Joshua Tree National Park. Charleston, SC: Arcadia (Images of America). p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4671-3281-7.

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• Adobe buildings and structures in California
• National Register of Historic Places in Joshua Tree National Park
• Ruins on the National Register of Historic Places
• National Register of Historic Places in Riverside County, California
• 1890s architecture in the United States
• Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California
• Water wells in the United States
• Water supply infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places
• Southern California Registered Historic Place stubs
• Riverside County, California, geography stubs