Midland is a ghost town in southeastern Riverside County, California, near the Little Maria Mountains and about 20 miles northwest of Blythe. Originally a company town from 1925 to the 1960s, it was owned by U.S. Gypsum Co., which mined gypsum and produced wallboard and plasterboard. The town once had a population of around 1,000 and a small railroad connecting the quarry to the plant.
Over time, as the gypsum became too heavy to mine profitably, operations ended in 1966, and most buildings were demolished, leaving only foundations. Midland’s gypsum was used for faux snow in Hollywood films, and a nearby abandoned mine was converted into the county’s largest fallout shelter in the 1960s. Some town structures, like a water tank, were relocated to nearby Blythe.









