The railroad connection allowed the town to survive and prosper as a supply center following the downfall of Rhyolite. Construction of US 95 through town and increased tourist traffic to nearby Death Valley allowed slow growth through the middle part of the 20^th century. Beatty has grown up to the camera station, owing to a large influx of people to southern Nevada in the 1980s and 1990s. Urbanization is consuming large tracts of desert that previously had been used primarily for livestock grazing or was undisturbed. (Dominic Oldershaw)