Searchlight: The Camp That Didn't Fail [Hardcover]

Harry Reid (Author), James W. Hulse (Introduction), Mike O'Callaghan (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998

Deep in the desolate Mojave Desert in Nevada’s extreme southern tip lies a small mining town called Searchlight. This meticulously researched book by Searchlight’s most distinguished native son recounts the colorful history of the town and the lives of the hardy people who built it and sustained a community in one of the least hospitable environments in the United States. Its story encompasses both Nevada’s early twentieth-century mining boom and the phenomenal growth of southern Nevada after World War II. Searchlight is a valuable contribution to the history of Nevada and a lively account of life in the forbidding depths of the Mojave Desert.<br> <br>

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is a detailed history of Searchlight, Nevada, located some 60 miles south of Las Vegas. Though Searchlight is a small town in the high Mojave Desert, it can serve as a metaphor for the modern West. Boom, bust, boom again typifies the West as we've known it in the 20th century. Searchlight started out a mining town, boomed with the construction of rail and highway routes, floundered when the mines ran out and the interstate bypassed it, and boomed again with legalized gambling, prostitution, population influx from Southern California, retirement housing and retirees, and a new road from Las Vegas to Laughlin. It never once failed, as the subtitle states?all because of the people who made up its soul, claims the author, a senator from Nevada. His affection for his birthplace is evident throughout, and he has managed to conduct and present scholarly research while serving as a full-time senator. Recommended for all Western history collections in academic and public libraries.?Thomas K. Fry, Univ. of Denver
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“People who think history is dry and boring will receive a lesson to the contrary with Harry Reid’s loving tribute to his hometown, Searchlight, Nevada.<br> --Bisbee (Ariz.) Pay Dirt<br> <br> “Reid has written of an era in Nevada history that has not been fully touched on prior to this, and his book covers an important segment of the history of the West.<br> --Journal of the West<br> <br> “Senator Reid’s narrative of the rise and fall of Searchlight . . . adds grist to the mill of historians engaged in studying the developmental phases of several Nevada mining camps. . . . The book is a good read and an important document on Nevada’s recent history.<br> --International California Mining Journal<br> <br> <br> <br>

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 233 pages
• Publisher: University of Nevada Press (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874173108
• ISBN-13: 978-0874173109
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,292,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book that didn't fail, July 28, 2008

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The Delite Rancher (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Searchlight: The Camp That Didn'T Fail (Paperback)

Just on the other side of the Arizona and California border, Searchlight is about an hour south of Las Vegas. While Vegas currently has over one and a half million people, Searchlight only has around eight hundred. It wasn't always that way. There was a time when Searchlight's population and modernity eclipsed that of Sin City. "Searchlight: The Camp That Didn't Fail" is a history of this town. Written by the current U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid is a son of Searchlight. Reid examines the hypotheses surrounding the origin of the town's unusual name. This history begins with the site's prospecting days. The story continues with the mining boom and bust and finishes with Searchlight's reincarnation as a retirement community and stop off for Lake Mojave recreationalists. Being one of the most productive mines in US history, the Quartette gold mine is largely responsible for Searchlight's former greatness. Reid spends a good deal of time on founding fathers Benjamin Macready and Colonel Hopkins. Other people associated with the town include Scott Joplin, James Cashman, Rex Bell, Clara Bow, John Macready and Queho, the outlaw Paiute. Topics include banking, the mining strike, newspapers, education, prostitution and the railroad. While the author recounts some of his personal experiences, much of the research for "Searchlight" is based on surviving newspaper articles. The handsome book includes photographs, appendices, end notes, maps and a foreword by former governor O'Callaghan. In terms of drawbacks, the book could have included a tri-state regional map. Harry Reid discusses places that are either not marked or are located off the included Nevada map. Anyone familiar with the region will know the whereabouts of places like Bullhead City, but some readers will wonder about the locality of places like Lanfair Valley, Nelson and Barnwell. Beyond this, there is nothing extraordinary about Searchlight. Sure, there were some interesting characters but unlike places such as Tombstone (Arizona), readers shouldn't expect a theatrical adaptation any time soon. Even Reid appreciates the town's modest place in the big scheme of things. This isn't necessarily a drawback because in this context, Searchlight is a satisfying case study of a typical boom to bust mining town. Thus "Searchlight: The Camp That Didn't Fail" is also recommended for readers who have an interest in Western History, mining and the Mojave Desert. While Harry Reid's hometown may be the camp that didn't fail, his book didn't fail to capture the story of Searchlight.