{"nrhp_refnum":"75000175","name":"Ryan House and Lost Horse Well","other_names":["Ryan Well"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"S of Twentynine Palms in Joshua Tree National Monument","address_restricted":false,"city":"Twentynine Palms","county":"Riverside County","state":"CA","lat":33.985002066500044,"lon":-116.14862175670139,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-06-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 16-acre ranch complex in Joshua Tree National Monument near Twentynine Palms, Riverside County, California, with an adobe residence, two small adobe buildings, a well, a graveyard and corral remains. The Ryan family built it in the 1890s.","why_significant":"The complex was the home base of the Ryan family, later developers of the Lost Horse Mine, the most profitable mine in the area. Its spring and later well supplied water by pump and pipe to the mine about three miles away. It is presented as showing the way of life of early desert miners.","narrative":"Set near the southwestern base of Ryan Mountain in what is now Joshua Tree National Monument, this ranch complex includes an adobe house of roughly 30 by 40 feet, two smaller adobe buildings, a 70-foot-deep well with a windmill and pump, a graveyard of about ten graves, and the scant remains of a boulder corral. The Ryan family, led by brothers Tom and Jepp, arrived in the 1890s and, according to local tradition, raised the adobe residence during that decade. They took over the Lost Horse Mine in 1896, built a ten-stamp mill there, and piped water from Lost Horse Spring to the mine about three miles away. A well dug in 1905 changed the spring's name to Lost Horse Well. The site is valued as a surviving example of desert mining life and of the early, successful mining of the area. Weathering has worn the adobe, and one small building is close to ruin.","period_of_significance":"1890s","architect_builder":"Tom and Jepp Ryan","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition rated fair and unaltered, on its original site. The smaller adobe is decaying toward ruins, while the larger adobe appears still in use. Emergency stabilization was estimated at $9,000.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.578783-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/75000175.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000175/016e05f482-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000175/016e05f482-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Joshua Tree National Park","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ryan_Ranch_(53483207520).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Joshua Tree National Park</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ryan_Ranch_(53483207520).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860511","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_House_and_Lost_Horse_Well","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7384157"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/riverside-county/ryan-house-and-lost-horse-well-75000175/"}