Searchlight is an unincorporated town[3] and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, at the topographic saddle between two mountain ranges.

[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, he found gold, leading to a boom era when Searchlight had a larger population than Las Vegas.

[citation needed] The city experiences a desert climate (Köppen: BWh) with hot summers and cool winters, but it is not uncommon to see temperatures below freezing.

Due to Searchlight's altitude and aridity, temperatures drop quickly after sunset, especially in the summer.

[12] The Silver Rider Transit operates express buses between Laughlin, Searchlight and Las Vegas.

[13] Private shuttle companies connect Searchlight with Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

[14] Searchlight is located at the junction of two highways; U.S. Route 95 which connects towards Boulder City and the Las Vegas Valley in the north and Needles, California, in the south, and Nevada State Route 164 which has its eastern terminus in Searchlight and heads west towards the California border from where it becomes Nipton Road and eventually connects to Interstate 15.

In the early 1890s, Joplin's friends, the brothers Tom and Charles Turpin, had been prospecting in the Searchlight area.

Their frequent stories of this experience, recounted to the patrons of their bar, inspired the title of the rag.