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Searchlight, Nevada
Unincorporated town
View of Searchlight, from the southwest
Location of Searchlight in Clark County, Nevada
Coordinates: 35°27′55″N 114°55′11″W / 35.46528°N 114.91972°W / 35.46528; -114.91972
Country	United States
State	Nevada
County	Clark
Founded	May 6, 1897; 127 years ago (1897-05-06)
Named for	Searchlight
Area
• Total	3.87 sq mi (10.03 km)
• Land	3.87 sq mi (10.03 km)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km)
Elevation	3,547 ft (1,081 m)
Population
• Total	445
• Density	114.87/sq mi (44.35/km)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes	89039, 89046
Area code(s)	702 and 725
FIPS code	32-65600
GNIS feature ID	0845654
Website	Official website
Nevada Historical Marker
Reference no.	116

Searchlight is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, at the topographic saddle between two mountain ranges. At the 2020 census it had a population of 445.

History

According to U.S. Senator Harry Reid (1939–2021), who wrote extensively about his hometown, the most likely story as to how the town received its name was that when George Frederick Colton was looking for gold in the area on May 6, 1897, he supposedly said that it would take a searchlight to find gold ore there. Shortly thereafter, he found gold, leading to a boom era when Searchlight had a larger population than Las Vegas. At the time, it was in Lincoln County, Nevada. As talk surfaced for carving Clark County, Nevada out of Lincoln County, Searchlight was initially considered to be the county seat. Between 1907 and 1910, the gold mines produced $7 million in gold and other precious minerals, and the town had a population of about 1,500. The ore was shipped to Barnwell via the Barnwell and Searchlight Railway.

Other stories on the origin of the name include a story that Colton was lighting a Searchlight brand match when he discovered the gold ore. Reid dismissed this story, saying that the Searchlight matches were not available in 1898. Yet another story says that Colton thought the area would be a good place because it was on a hill. His mine was called the Duplex, because the gold ore was found on two levels.

Searchlight declined after 1917 but remained as a stop on the Arrowhead Highway. In 1927, U.S. Route 91 bypassed the town and its population dropped to 50.

The town had a resurgence in the 1930s and 1940s with the construction of the nearby Hoover Dam and was the site of the El Rey Bordello in the 1940s and early 1950s until the bordello burned down. The last gold mine ceased operating around 1953.

Geography

Climate

The city experiences a desert climate (Köppen: BWh) with hot summers and cool winters, but it is not uncommon to see temperatures below freezing. Searchlight's elevation makes temperatures somewhat cooler than lower-elevation areas in the Mojave Desert, such as Baker, California; Needles, California; and Fort Mohave, Arizona. However, summers can still be extremely hot. Due to Searchlight's altitude and aridity, temperatures drop quickly after sunset, especially in the summer. Daytime highs in the winter are usually well above freezing, and nighttime lows drop below freezing only a few nights a year.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, there were 445 people, 229 households, and 99 families residing in the CDP.

2000 census

At the 2000 census of 2000, there were 576 people, 315 households and 136 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 44.1 per square mile (17.0/km). There were 444 housing units at an average density of 34.0 per square mile (13.1/km). The racial make-up of the CDP was 95.0% White, 0.7% African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 1.7% from other races and 1.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.7% of the population.

There are 315 households, of which 8.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.9% were married couples living together, 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present and 56.8% were non-families. 48.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 23.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.76 and the average family size was 2.46.

10.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 3.1% from 18 to 24, 20.0% from 25 to 44, 35.8% from 45 to 64 and 31.1% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 55 years. For every 100 females, there were 125.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 131.3 males.

The median household income was $24,407 and the median family income was $29,323. Males had a median income of $26,563 and females $27,868. The per capita income was $19,606. None of the household families were living below the poverty line, with just 14.6% of the population comprising that, including no one under age 18 and none of those over 64.

Education

Public education in Searchlight is administered by Clark County School District. The district operates Reid Elementary School (K–5) in Searchlight.

Searchlight has a public library, a branch of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.

Transportation

Public transport

The Silver Rider Transit operates express buses between Laughlin, Searchlight and Las Vegas. Private shuttle companies connect Searchlight with Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

Highways

Searchlight is located at the junction of two highways; U.S. Route 95 which connects towards Boulder City and the Las Vegas Valley in the north and Needles, California, in the south, and Nevada State Route 164 which has its eastern terminus in Searchlight and heads west towards the California border from where it becomes Nipton Road and eventually connects to Interstate 15.

Notable people

• Rex Bell, westerns actor and politician. Owned the Walking Box Ranch with his wife Clara Bow. The ranch was a popular destination for Hollywood actors.
• Edith Head, costume designer who won more Oscars than any other woman.
• William Harrell Nellis, aviator for whom Nellis Air Force Base is named
• Harry Reid, United States senator, 1987–2017, senate majority leader, 2007–2015

In popular culture

In 1907, the "Searchlight Rag" by Scott Joplin was published. In the early 1890s, Joplin's friends, the brothers Tom and Charles Turpin, had been prospecting in the Searchlight area. Their frequent stories of this experience, recounted to the patrons of their bar, inspired the title of the rag.

Searchlight appears in the 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas as an irradiated, ruined town containing a New California Republic outpost known as Camp Searchlight.

See also

• Barnwell and Searchlight Railway
• LORAN-C transmitter Searchlight
• Searchlight Airport

References

1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Searchlight, Nevada
2. "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
3. "Searchlight Town Board". Archived from the original on January 12, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
4. "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Searchlight CDP, Nevada". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
5. Bartlett Pesek, Margo (April 29, 2012). "Former boomtown Searchlight rich with history". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
6. "Harry Colton", 1st100
   - Harry Rei (January 1998). Searchlight: The Camp That Didn't Fail. University of Nevada Press. ISBN 0-87417-310-8 – via Google Books.
7. "Searchlight, Nevada Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)". Weatherbase. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
8. "Seasonal Temperature and Precipitation Information". Western Regional Climate Center. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
9. Bureau, US Census. "Census.gov". Census.gov. Retrieved April 27, 2023. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
10. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
11. "Elementary School - Southeastern Attendance Boundaries" (PDF). Clark County School District. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
12. "Nevada Public Libraries". Public Libraries. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
13. "Schedule". South Nevada Transit Coalition. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
14. "Tri State Shuttle". www.tristateairportshuttle.com. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
    - "Pickup & Drop-off Locations". VegasAirporter. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
15. Scavone, Jason (November 23, 2021). "Artifacts From the Past: Walking Box Ranch". University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
16. Duka, John (October 27, 1981). "Edith Head, Fashion Designer for the Movies, Dies". The New York Times. p. D07. Miss Head, was born in San Bernardino, Calif., and was raised in the mining town of Searchlight, Nev. She began her professional career not as a designer but as a teacher.
17. "Lieutenant William Harrell Nellis". Nellis Air Force Base. United States Air Force. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
18. Kane, Paul (December 29, 2021). "Searchlight, Las Vegas and the two identities of Harry Reid". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2023. Born in Searchlight, living in a shack without indoor plumbing or a high school anywhere nearby, Reid grew up with a father who worked the mines, only to fall into depression and kill himself at the age of 58. His mother worked as a laundress at the brothels in town. As a teen he hitchhiked 40 miles each Monday to get to high school and stayed with relatives.
19. "Perfessor Bill Edwards - Scott Joplin Compositions (1906-1917)". Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
20. Acaba, Daniel (April 12, 2024). "What does the Fallout New Vegas Wild Wasteland trait do?". GamesRadar+.
21. Enerio, Dane (April 24, 2024). "Fallout: New Vegas Fan Recreates Searchlight in Far Cry 5". Game Rant.

External links

• Searchlight Town Advisory Board Archived January 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

v t e Municipalities and communities of Clark County, Nevada, United States
County seat: Las Vegas
Cities	Boulder City Henderson Las Vegas Mesquite‡ North Las Vegas
CDPs	Blue Diamond Bunkerville Cal-Nev-Ari Enterprise Goodsprings Indian Springs Laughlin Moapa Moapa Valley Mount Charleston Nellis AFB Nelson Paradise Sandy Valley Searchlight Spring Valley Summerlin South Sunrise Manor Whitney Winchester
Unincorporated communities	Centennial Hills Cold Creek Corn Creek Cottonwood Cove Crescent Glendale Jean Las Vegas Chinatown Lone Mountain Logandale Lower Kyle Canyon Mountain Springs Overton Palm Gardens Primm Riverside Sloan Summerlin Stewarts Point Trout Canyon
Ghost towns	Arden Bard Bonelli's Ferry Borax Buster Falls Byron Cactus Springs Callville Colorado City Crystal Dike Dry Lake El Dorado City Erie Gold Butte Louisville Lovell Lucky Jim Camp Nelson's Landing Owens Potosi Quartette Rioville Roach Saint Joseph Solar St. Thomas San Juan Simonsville Stone's Ferry Valley Wann
Indian reservations	Fort Mojave Indian Reservation‡ Las Vegas Indian Colony Moapa River Indian Reservation
Proposed communities	Coyote Springs‡ Blue Diamond Hill housing proposals
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
Nevada portal United States portal

• 1897 establishments in Nevada
• Census-designated places in Clark County, Nevada
• Piute Valley
• Populated places established in 1897
• Populated places in the Mojave Desert
• Unincorporated towns in Nevada
• Harry Reid