Welcome to Searchlight, Spring 1906.
You’re standing at the corner of Hobson and Main St, facing away from the Quartette, Cyrus Noble and Duplex Mines and the “Gonorrhea Gulch” Red-Light District, and toward the hustle and bustle of Searchlight’s main drag. A spring rain has just washed off the streets, the tall, new wooden buildings with their neatly painted storefront signs, and the tent houses serving as temporary shelters for the influx of newcomers. The boardwalk in front of you is bustling with the excitement of a Gold Rush boomtown in full bloom, and everywhere you look, you see people engaged in helping other people find fortunes, make fortunes, and spend fortunes.
One of the first things you notice is the din of dozens of ore-crushing mill stamps, some only a few blocks away, some further in the distance. This cacophony of rhythm is mingled with the sound of wagons groaning, horses whinnying, ore carts being dumped, people shooting the breeze with each other, and one of the local bands rehearsing for the big 4th of July celebration. You start casually walking along the elevated sidewalk, passing the BIG store and its thriving business selling hardware and household goods, as well as ropes and saddle tack for the cowboys at Rock Springs Ranch, and prospecting gear for those trying their luck out in the hills. There is a horse stable and corral, but also a garage for the new-fangled horseless carriage car. Across the street, you see boarding houses, saloons, a French restaurant and bakery—clearly there are folks here ready to part with their disposable income!
In fact, as you look past the swinging doors of a drinking parlour, you see plenty of hard-working types standing around a roulette table and--who is that dealing at the Faro Bank? Why, it’s the long-whiskered former lawman Wyatt Earp, famous gun-fighter at the OK Corral in Tombstone, AZ in 1881. Earp has been traveling from boomtown to boomtown, and has been hanging out in the Searchlight area for at least six months, prospecting for gold to the south and for suckers at the Faro table. Don’t be tempted to try your luck; Earp has earned a reputation for trick dealing that will land him in an Los Angeles jail in a year or two.
More about the breaking news story of Wyatt Earp in Searchlight can be found in Issue #4 of the Gold Beam!