According to U.S. SenatorHarry 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.[citation needed] 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.[5] 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.[6]
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.[citation needed]
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. [7] 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.[citation needed]
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/km2). There were 444 housing units at an average density of 34.0 per square mile (13.1/km2). 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.[11]
Searchlight has a public library, a branch of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.[12]
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.[15]
Edith Head, costume designer who won more Oscars than any other woman.[16]
Harry Reid, United States senator, 1987–2017, senate majority leader, 2007–2015[18]
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.[19]
^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.
^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.
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