Midland, California

For the place in Kern County formerly with this name, see Midoil, California.

Midland
—  Ghost town  —
Midland Location within the state of California
Coordinates: 33°51′40″N 114°48′08″W
Country	United States
State	California
County	Riverside
Time zone	Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes
FIPS code
GNIS feature ID

Midland is a ghost town in Riverside County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of California. It is adjacent to the Little Maria Mountains and located about twenty-two miles north of Blythe. From 1925 to the 1960s, Midland was a company town owned by the U.S. Gypsum Co. The company had harvested vast amounts of gypsum found in the area. At its peak, the town had a population of approximately 1,000.

Many winter scenes in Hollywood films during the 20th century utilized faux snow that originated from Midland.

As the character of the gypsum found in the area was considered too heavy as the years went on, company activity in Midland subsided and then ended in 1966.

A majority of the buildings of Midland were torn down and today only foundations remain. Gypsum mining operations continue 15 miles southwest of Midland.

References

• Hillinger, Charles (November 2, 1970). "Don't Go To Midland---It's Gone". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.designbycandy.com/personal/gone.htm. 
• "Midland". The Center for Land Use Interpretation. http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/CA4920/. 
• Midland - in Desert Fever, 1981

Further reading

• The Blythe California Chapter of Gold Prospectors Association of America page about Midland (with pictures)