Abandoned Mine-head, Searchlight, NV

Today Searchlight is kind of a living ghost town, at an elevation of 3,540 ft, it was named after a brand of matches. Gold was first found on May 6,1897. G.F Colton, filed the first claim, which later became the Duplex Mine. On July 20, 1898 the Searchlight Mining District was founded. The Quartette Mining Company, formed in 1900, became the mainstay of the Searchlight District, producing almost half of the area's total output. Searchlight began to boom in 1902 and reached its peak year in 1907. On March 31, 1907, the 23.22-mile Barnwell and Searchlight Railroad connected the town with the then main Santa Fe line from Needles to Mojave. By 1919 trains were operating over the B and S Railroad only twice a week. A severe washout on September 23, 1923, halted traffic completely. Train service was never restored.

In the 1900's, Searchlight was a typical busy mining town of a reported 1,500 people. At this time, they were larger than Las Vegas. There were many gold and silver mines that were good producers in the Searchlight mining district. The "Mines of Searchlight" map dated October 1906, shows that there were well over 300 mining claims in the area at that time. Eventually, the gold and silver production cost went up and the grade of ore went down, so people started to move on. By 1927, there were about 50 people left in Searchlight. By 1940 a total of about $4.5 million in gold was produced. Presently, the little Nevada town has a population of about 800. According to the United States Geological Survey, Nevada is one of the earth's primary gold-producing regions. The Nevada gold mines account for about 64 percent of the gold production in the United States, and nine percent of the gold in the entire world. In fact, the Nevada gold mines are the third largest producers of gold in the entire world. South Africa is the largest producer, followed by Australia.