Plan in Beatty NV during lockdown to save and celebrate wild horses

It was in the dim light of the Wild Side Tavern that the plan was hatched. The raucous bar clatter, clack of billiard balls and blaring honky-tonk jukebox created a cacophony, covering our talk of sedition. Well, a re-dress of grievances really.

Moments before Nevada’s California-copying governor Steve Sisolak issued the edict from upon mount high; rural Nevada was to go into lockdown, ‘non-essential’ businesses were to close, Walmart and Home Depot, they’re good to go.

That wasn’t the only talk of the town, earlier that week the newspaper had published a picture of a horse with a broken leg being chased by a helicopter. The helicopter littered with Bureau of Land Management agents. If unfamiliar, BLM is an appendix of the bureaucratic blob that, in an effort to justify their funding and validate its existence, regularly culls the herds of wild horses and burros, the likes of which happily populate towns like Beatty.

The hubris, dictating the exact equestrian population of Nevada. The audacity, nature is something to be dominated and micro-managed. The unmitigated gall. BLM, the self-appointed apex predator. People were livid. And we felt motivated to do something about it.

Our scheme was grandiose. It was to be the mother of all desert parties, the Comstock Lode of outdoor raves. And it was all going to be to save the wild horses. We expected anywhere between five and 500 people. Mike had a DJ friend in Germany who could spin from his pajamas. Johnny Jekyll could get the band back together. Jay would handle security. Holes would have to be dug, kegs procured, and a generator… we needed a generator. “Does anyone have a generator?!” At this point we were openly asking the bar. A crowd began to form. “The bonfire will be visible from space,” Chela mused. “You can put some flyers around the bar,” Jacob the bartender offered. Others chimed in, “Where are we going to have this party?” “How about the dry lake bed over by Sheri’s Ranch.” “Isn’t that BLM land?” “Exactly.” We decided proceeds from T-shirt sales would go directly to the wild horses. Lockdowns were looming but we had the antidote to isolation.

The general sentiment was to leave those wild horses alone. Live and let live. This is the Wild West after all. As Bruce at B&C printing told me about Beatty, “This is where skydivers jumped out of planes and tried to land on a mattress to win a free trip to the town brothel!”

Horses that survive the roundup end up in the National Wild Horse and Burro Center in Palomino Valley, north of Sparks. Although the Virginia Range is home to some of the nation’s most historic herds, Beatty has no shortage of members of the Equindae family. Beatty burros are known to walk right up to your car looking for food. Pack carrots. Beatty is known for the Open Air Museum, the ghost town of Rhyolite and places to wet your whistle like the Sourdough Saloon, VFW, or the Happy Burro. Great BBQ at Smoking J’s. and Eddie’s World will satisfy any sweet tooth. Ben’s favorite. Beatty is nestled between the Nevada Test Site and Yucca Mountain, which at one time was to store 80,000 tons of nuclear waste until the permits fell through. I imagine the waste was originally intended for California, but they have Gavin Newsom so I guess they already have enough toxic sludge.

So what happened to the epic desert rager? Pub ravings mostly. The party didn’t materialize. Scheduling conflict. However, we came close and a script idea was born that night: Mojave Desert Rescue. We plan on making that in 2025 and filming in Nye, Esmeralda and Inyo counties. Party extras will be needed.

Eric Coleman is an artist based in Pahrump. He is also a screenwriter and an actor. He is the cartoonist for the Pahrump Valley Times and Tonopah Times-Bonanza. Follow him on his YouTube Channel The Traveling Cartoonist at https://tinyurl.com/2swrkmpm. For map information, contact Mr. Coleman at ericjamescoleman@gmail.com.