Abandoned Towns
Searchlight's low buildings spread across the desert below a rocky hill, with Joshua trees in front

Gold mining town

Searchlight

An 1897 gold strike in the desert south of Las Vegas made a town of 5,000 by 1907. It shrank to about 50 people, then came back as a highway town of a few hundred, with old headframes around its edge.

35°27′55″N 114°55′11″W · ≈3,540 ft

Photo: Stan Shebs, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Lived in

Searchlight is a living town of 445 people (2020 census); homes, mine shafts and mine dumps are private. The free Searchlight Museum is open Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Clark County, read October 29, 2026).

Overview

A gold camp that became a highway town

G.F. Colton found gold here in 1897; Wikipedia gives the date as May 6, and Clark County gives 1898, the year the mining district and a post office were set up. The name is disputed: Clark County says it comes from the Searchlight Mine, Legends of America mentions a brand of matches and searchlights said to have guided men to the brothels, and Harry Reid, who grew up here, thought it came from Colton's joke that it would take a searchlight to find gold. The Quartette Mining Company, formed in 1900, produced almost half the district's ore. By 1907 Legends of America counts about 5,000 people, 44 working mines, a telephone exchange and more than a dozen saloons, and Wikipedia says the town was bigger than Las Vegas.

The ore thinned that same year, even as the Barnwell and Searchlight Railroad linked the town to the Santa Fe on March 31, 1907. A September 1923 flood washed out the railroad for good, and US 91 bypassed the town in 1927, when about 50 people remained. Building Hoover Dam brought a revival in the 1930s and 1940s; a mill built in 1934 closed in 1935, and the last gold mine of the era closed around 1953.

Searchlight never emptied. Recreation along the Colorado River made it a tourist and retirement town, and 445 people lived here at the 2020 census. Legends of America lists it among Nevada's ghost towns as a mining camp and active town, with a few original buildings and mining remnants.

Video

A drive through town

A dashboard camera drives Searchlight's streets on a sunny morning: Cottonwood Cove Road past houses, trailers and school crossing signs, a stretch of US 95 past the businesses on the highway, and residential Hobson Street.

Play “Searchlight - Nevada - 4K Downtown Drive” from YouTube
“Searchlight - Nevada - 4K Downtown Drive”, by Mileage Mike Travels on YouTube. The player loads from YouTube when you press play.

Timeline

Boom, bypass and survival

Searchlight from the air, a mining town surrounded by sagebrush, photographed by Capt. A.W. Stevens in 1923
Searchlight from the air, a mining town surrounded by sagebrush, photographed by Capt. A.W. Stevens in 1923 · Photo: Unknown author or not provided, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. G.F. Colton finds gold and starts the Duplex Mine; Wikipedia dates his find to May 6.
  2. The Searchlight Mining District and a post office are established.
  3. The Quartette Mining Company is formed; it produces almost half the district's ore.
  4. About 5,000 people, 44 working mines and more than a dozen saloons. The Barnwell and Searchlight Railroad opens on March 31.
  5. A flood washes out the railroad; service never resumes.
  6. US 91 bypasses Searchlight; about 50 people remain.
  7. A new mill is built; it closes in 1935 for lack of ore.
  8. The last gold mine of the era closes.
  9. Census: 576.
  10. Census: 445.

What to see

The museum and the headframes

An old headframe at Searchlight, April 2004
An old headframe at Searchlight, April 2004 · Photo: Stan Shebs, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Searchlight is an unincorporated town and census-designated place with Reid Elementary School (kindergarten to grade 5) and express buses to Laughlin and Las Vegas. Clark County's Searchlight Museum, in the community center at 200 Michael Wendell Way, covers the town's mining history and its well-known residents, among them Senator Harry Reid, costume designer Edith Head and aviator John Macready. Admission is free; the county gives the hours as Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with Saturdays by appointment (read October 29, 2026). Harry Reid is buried in the Searchlight cemetery, as a February 2025 photo of his family plot shows.

Old headframes and mine dumps stand around the edge of town, and the 1959 and 1989 topographic maps name the Duplex, Quartette, Berlock and Searchlight Parallel mines among them. Homes and mine property are private, so look from public roads. Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mohave, in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, is 14 miles downhill.

  • Searchlight Museum in the community center
  • Headframes and mine dumps (private)
  • Searchlight cemetery
  • The hilltop Searchlight sign

Old and new maps

Searchlight on the map

The 1926 Mohave City sheet shows Searchlight as a cluster of buildings where several roads meet. The 1959 Searchlight sheet lines the highway with mines, from the Searchlight Parallel and Boston Searchlight in the north to the Quartette and Duplex in the south. By 1989 the town has a grid of streets east of US 95, trailer parks and cemeteries, with the Duplex, Berlock and Noble mines and shafts on its southern edge.

USGS topographic map of Searchlight at the junction of US 95 and NV 164, with Doherty Mountain and Duplex Hill
USGS The National Map, topo. Searchlight where NV 164 meets US 95, between Doherty Mountain to the north and Duplex Hill to the south.
Aerial view of Searchlight's street grid east of US 95 in the desert
Aerial imagery, same area. The town's grid of streets east of the highway.

Historic maps

Searchlight on USGS maps, 1926–1989

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Searchlight, 1926
Mohave City sheet, 1926, 1:96,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Searchlight is on US 95, 39.7 miles south of Boulder City and 57.4 miles from downtown Las Vegas. Both routes end at the junction with Cottonwood Cove Road (NV 164) in the middle of town; the museum is on Michael Wendell Way, about three quarters of a mile east.

USGS topographic map of US 95 from Boulder City south to Searchlight, with routes drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Boulder City39.7 miabout 46 min
  1. From downtown Boulder City, take Avenue G and Arizona Street to Nevada Way.0.4 mi
  2. Follow Nevada Way and Boulder City Parkway (US 93 Business) southeast.3.3 mi
  3. Take the ramp to Veterans Memorial Highway (US 95) and follow it south to Searchlight.36.2 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Homes, mine shafts and mine dumps around Searchlight are private property; stay on public roads.

Photos

Searchlight in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Searchlight?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Searchlight

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Nevada index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Searchlight, Nevada", read October 29, 2026: the May 6, 1897 founding date, the census counts for 2000 and 2020, a larger population than Las Vegas, the 1927 bypass and about 50 people, the Hoover Dam revival, the 1953 closing, Reid Elementary School and the buses, the coordinates.
  2. Legends of America, "Searchlight", updated November 2025: Colton's 1897 discovery, the 1898 district and post office, the Quartette company, the 1907 peak and the Barnwell and Searchlight Railroad, the 1923 flood, the 1934 mill, the name stories, the tourist and retirement community, Cottonwood Cove.
  3. Legends of America, "Ghost Towns of Nevada", read October 29, 2026: Searchlight listed as a mining camp and active town with a few original buildings and mining remnants.
  4. ghosttowns.com, "Searchlight", read October 29, 2026: the ghost town listing, 2WD road, climate, best time, old buildings beside modern ones, the 1907 peak.
  5. Clark County Parks and Recreation, Searchlight Museum, read October 29, 2026: address, hours, free admission, the 1898 founding, the name from the Searchlight Mine, notable residents.
  6. Wikimedia Commons, Harry Reid's headstone in Searchlight, photo February 22, 2025: his grave in the town cemetery.
  7. Mileage Mike Travels, "Searchlight - Nevada - 4K Downtown Drive", YouTube, posted May 25, 2026: the video on this page; houses, school crossings and highway businesses in town.
  8. USGS topographic maps: Mohave City 1:96,000 (1926), Searchlight 1:62,500 (1959) and 1:24,000 (1989).
  9. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits