The Odd Life and Times of Elko's Robert F. Caudill (Better Known as 'Doby Doc')

 

Remnants of Doby Doc's collection of Nevada artifacts, such as these buildings, can still be found at the Clark County Heritage Museum in Henderson, Nevada.

   The late Nevada historian Howard Hickson once described Robert F. Caudill, the man typically known as “Doby Doc,” as “an honest to goodness died-in-the-wool Western character.”

   Hickson said many of Doc’s antics were legendary—and nearly unbelievable—and “a great deal of gray area” surrounded many of his activities, which usually had to do with the legal—and not quite so legal—acquisition of historic Nevada artifacts.

   As Hickson put it, Doc’s “philosophy boiled down to him getting away with thievery and not getting caught. That made it all okay. We’re not talking about simply everyday theft. We mean legendary stealing.”

   For example, sometime after the Eureka-Nevada Railway (formerly known as the Eureka and Palisade Railroad) closed down, Doc apparently decided the locomotive and rolling stock still sitting outside in the ghost town of Palisade, should have a new home. According to Hickson, he took all of it and transported it to his storage yard in Elko.

   Doc, who lived in Elko for nearly 40 years (from about 1906 until the late 1940s), was a pathological collector of historic stuff. His acquisitions ranged from clocks and smaller items to entire abandoned (and even not quite abandoned) buildings, trains, old mining ore carts, an entire schoolhouse (from North Dakota), and a Chinese Joss House.

   A February 18, 1962 editorial in the Nevada State Journal noted “For years Elko County residents scratched their heads as Doby Doc foraged for his Nevada memorabilia. Some though Doc must be a little off his beam, gathering all that junk. What good could it ever possibly be?”

   In 1947, Doc approached the city of Elko to request $50,000 to help him build a small replica of a mining town on the outskirts of the community. It would include much of the memorabilia he had collected over the years.

   The city’s response, not surprisingly given Doc’s reputation as a bit of a shady character—in addition his thieving, he had been once been a bootlegger—was to ignore the request.

   But shortly after, Doc was contracted by a new western-themed hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the Hotel Last Frontier, to bring all of his treasures south and set up a tourist attraction.

   Known as the Last Frontier Village, it was Las Vegas’ first theme park and incorporated many of his old buildings, railroad equipment (he now had three complete trains with rolling stock), wagons, ore carts, etc. along with newer, faux-old time western structures. Doc also added a few wooden Indian figures, folks dressed as miners and cowboys, and kiddie rides.

   From 1950 to the late 1950s, Las Frontier Village was a popular attraction, often highlighted by Doc’s presence. He would wander the grounds telling his tale tales and other stories.

   According to Hickson, when ownership of the Hotel Last Frontier changed, Doc had a disagreement with the new owners and decided to remove all of his items. Almost overnight, he trucked everything out of the village and put it in a cluster of warehouses he owned near the Las Vegas Airport.

   Over the next few years, Doc purchased a piece of the Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas, which became his new main interest. It’s said that parts of his vast collection were sold over the years. One of the old locomotives is believed to have become part of another Old West theme-park, Old Las Vegas on the Boulder Highway.

   Additionally, some of the buildings were moved to Boulder City to become part of Fort Lucinda, another Old West theme park that boasted llama rides, a 3-foot narrow gauge railroad and a wax museum. It closed in 1966 and became the Gold Strike casino.

   Fortunately, some of the old buildings, which included the former Tuscarora Jail, a toll cabin and a general store, were stable enough to be donated and relocated to the Clark County Heritage Museum in Henderson. They continue to be on display there in what has been described as a state of arrested decay.

   According to the 1962 Nevada State Journal editorial, the bulk of the collection—some 65 truckloads—was sold for $3 million to an entrepreneur developing an elaborate western-themed town at Apache Junction, Arizona.

   As for Doc, he lived out his days in Las Vegas, dying of pneumonia at the age of 90 in August 1979.