Remnants of the MOJAVE DESERT | Ghost Towns of Searchlight, NV & Nipton, CA
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- Опубликовано: 7 июн 2024
- Across the Mojave Desert dot numerous remains of ghost towns, both forgotten and still alive. Today our adventure examines what life was like and the remnants of an industry that put these towns on the map and what remains of them today.
Legend says that Searchlight got its name in May of 1897 when prospector George Frederick Colton stated it was going to take a searchlight to find gold ore out in the desert. Not long thereafter, Colton found the gold he was looking for and began the Duplex Mine. Word spread quickly and many people flooded into the area. Searchlight quickly became a boom town and to really put it in perspective at the time it had a larger population than nearby Las Vegas. After 1917 the great boom was already coming to an end and by the 1920s the population almost dwindled away to nothing. There was a small resurgence in the 1930s and 1940s due to the excitement at nearby Hoover Dam but by the early 1950s, the remaining mining operations closed shop. Fast forward to the day and there's a population likely south of 500 people.
The origin of Nipton was a small mining camp located at the crossroads of two wagon trails. It sits at the northeastern edge of the Mojave National Preserve and feels like a tiny oasis against the backdrop of the vast Mojave Desert. Nipton really came to be when a railroad eventually passed through here in 1905. Back then they called it Nippeno Camp. Then in 1910 when the previous railroads merged with the Union Pacific Railroad, the name of the town changed to Nipton. In its heyday, Nipton served as a cattle loading station for nearby ranches in the area. It also serviced prospectors and miners who worked mines out in nearby areas, serving as sort of a supply and social nub for an otherwise sparsely populated and isolated community of desert dwellers. Today the highlight of the town is arguably the 1910 five-room adobe hotel.
VIDEO FILMED: 11/26-11/27/2022
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▬▬ T I M E S T A M P S ▬▬
00:00 Searchlight, Nevada
15:45 Walking Box Ranch
20:18 Nipton, California
26:46 Chloride, Arizona
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Welcome to the Cactus Atlas! We are Glenn and Amy and invite you to join us as we visit all sorts of locations across the American West. We tour both natural and man-made attractions.
Our base of operations is in the Phoenix, AZ area. We do a lot of hiking and day trips as well as campground reviews and hope that we will be a great resource if you are planning a trip to the American West. We also hope to delight you with our exciting adventures!
Thanks, great trip, glad you allowed me to tag along ❤
Our pleasure 😊
The mine you started at is called the Southern Nevada Mine ( Gold ) the mill is the building that you were at and has been removed by BLM. We have explored and documented every mine in that district and currently own one of them. We filmed all them in the early 90's on VHS and have been to the bottom of most of them ...most now sealed off. The Duplex mine on the hill is the most famous as it is almost still intact .....we have video of the underground workings on that on as well. The largest of all the mines is around the hill and they are called the Quartette mines. ( 1700 feet deep ) So much History at WB Ranch and down the road from the is the Hart mining district in the Castle mountains ( Viceroy was open pit - heap leaching it ) Small town of Crescent as you got to Nipton. 2 of the rooms at the Nipton Hotel are haunted. Big John of Searchlight made that rock garden out front of the Hotel in 1930. Could tell you a lot about Chloride too and the Cerbat mountain range .... be safe out there and keep'em coming
Wow! Thanks so much for all that info! We keep meaning to get back to Chloride as we just didn't have time when up there that time. Loads more to see. Just so little time. 😅 Thanks once again!
We were at the Colton mine in Searchlight last weekend. We stayed with friends that live in one on the trailers on the property. We also got to meet Kim Coleton, the great granddaughter of the original owner of the mine. Very cool place & was great to get to explore the are a bit!
Oh, wow! That is very awesome! Sounds like a lot of fun. 😄👍
Interesting history in Nipton! The Joshua trees at the ranch were so beautiful as well!
Yes they were. Seeing them from a different perspective really has become a fun new thing. 😅
In the video, right when you transition leaving searchlight via nipton rd, that property on the right, looks like it’s now a maintenance yard or something, that property is where Harry Reid and his family lived. I worked near there at a Chevron gas station right at the north end of town.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! 😄👍
Great video as always. You are right on how fragile some of these places are. I drove by a bunch of buildings in Mojave Preserve a few years ago and when I went back there were just piles of wood everywhere with a few roofs and door frames here and there.
Man, such a loss. So many places will just disappear or even become off limits to the public in the years to come. Makes one wonder what some neighborhoods or other areas we see daily might look like in 100+ years.
Love your content. You are definitely my scout for interesting road trip destinations. Some people don't get it. But I enjoy being in places where relics of the past exist. To think that those things, being a brick or nailed board, are what a person assembled many years ago.
That is a good way to summarize it! I always try to envision the who and how and what life was like. Even down to the smallest rusty nail.
Those clouds looked pretty cool 😎
Was some pretty interesting weather during that trip. 👍
Ahhh Haaaaa. I knew there was something odd & different throughout this whole vid & at 26:45 it hit me. Glenn wasn't wearing his Hat. Well that was a cool little adventure. Thanks for taking us along.
Hahah! The hat does in fact sometimes gets left behind. 😅
🌴🏜️👋🏼Greetings from the Colorado Desert, Chiraco Summit, CA.
Your videos bring me so much peace! You talk very calmly, and the music with the beautiful footage! I appriciate your appreciation for the desert! 🙏 thank you for making these videos!
Thank you so much for letting us know and we're super happy that we could bring them to you. We both enjoy making them so much. 😊
Your videos are the best examples of what RUclips can be. Thank you so much! You're a great narrator.
Wow, thank you! We're glad that you enjoy our work. 😊
Anither good one! I love roaming around the boonies with you. I wonder if Nipton will ever be opened to the public again. I hope whoever bought it doesn't use it for their own personal use, but it looks like that's what is going to happen.
Nipton's current restrictions are such a bummer. Especially since we've seen so many other videos from the past. Hoping things relax again but only time will tell. 😞
Love these ghost town adventures! The Mojave is so beautiful!
It really is! Hitting up more remote ghost towns has become so much fun. Have a great new year! 😊
Always enjoy watching your videos! So well done. I just watched the one you did in Grafton, a place I've been to many times...I have a love of Old West towns and Ghost towns too. If you've never been....put Bannack State Park ghost town on your list. It was number one on my must go to list and I was able to get there last year. It is fantastic! I spent four hours there....so much to see!
Thank you! 😄 Bannack State Park has been on our radar for a while. Just not sure, unfortunately, if we'll be making a trip that far north any time soon. Would LOVE to, just hard to squeeze in with the distance it requires to get there and the time off from work available. But it looks like an amazing place!
Someday you will be able to! I retired in August 2021(after being laid off due to the covid mess) so I was able to take a trip to Utah and back to Pennsylvania without any time constraints! Saw Bannack, Virginia City, and Deadwood in that trip! And many other places too. Maybe someday I'll meet you when I'm out West!
Hey, just passing along something I learned watching other mining exploration RUclips posts, the pile of rocks that are usually close to the mine adits are called waste rock that's not crushed, tailings are the result of the rocks being crushed and processed by a mill or some other method of extracting the wanted minerals, usually don't see rocks in the tailings
Ah! Yeah, we have lots to learn when it comes to mining, processing, etc. It's truly interesting to us but not something we're experts at. 😅 Thanks for the info!
I’ve always wondered how Searchlight got its name. I’ve never heard of Nipton before.
I love the sound of rain on corrugated metal. Right outside my bedroom is a huge patio cover, which I have to admit, is in much better shape than the one in your video. I enjoy waking up to the rain pounding on it.
I can imagine that the sound can be somewhat soothing at times - especially when the rain is very needed. 😊
Another wonderful travel vlog loved it. Been by there but now I will think about it more than before when passing that way. These videos make me think about the people and places. Thank you so much and happy new year to you both. Look forward to seeing you on your travels in 2023.
Thank you! We're looking forward to what adventures await in the new year. Hope yours will be great as well! 😄
Walking box ranch was by rex bell and clara bow lived there until mid 1940's now part of burea of land management
Wow, what a neat trip! You should have used the drone to get us into the restricted areas 😂. I wonder if they'd copyright strike you if you played a little "In the name of love" or "Where the streets have no name" just to go with the whole Joshua Tree vibe? 🤔
😂 Probably would not be favorable but it can be the Pink Floyd / Wizard of Oz experience. Just queue it up and press play.🤣
Nice surprise, Happy New Year
Thank you! You too! 😄
Totally sounded like something growled at you at 6:48 😳
Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter
The American southwest desert is the ONLY place in the world where the Joshua Tree grows.
Love shack. That’s where it’s at.
😂 I kept hearing that in my head while editing.
Generally 1800s wood only after 1910 wood with metal roof
Won't step on glass but will touch a high voltage cable 😂
🤣 Somehow the thought of glass in a foot seemed worse at the time.
Just wondering where do they get water in these desert communities?..
A lot of areas around here use the Colorado but further away I'm not sure unfortunately. 😅
🤠👍👍
It’s a nice little place but there were lots of roman looking soldiers there crucifying gang members and burning decapitated bodies last time I went through
Surprised no one confronted you. Not all those people out there are very, let say happy. Stay off their land.
Yes..alot of history...you have seemed to have forgotten...or intentiollay left out the legacy of the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe people. Its a Christian thing...I get it...
The scope of the video we intended was simply exploring remnants of old mining history. However, we are interested in the history of Native American cultures and have covered several in many videos we've filmed. You can check them out in our back catalog and btw, we're not Christian. 😉