Elko, Nevada

  The single men who made their way west more than a century ago gave the West its name, wilding among themselves in search of profit. For proof that the Wild West still exists, take a trip to ELKO, NEVADA, a little desert town that survives on today’s horny, cash-laden profit-seekers who come back from mining, covered in dust, looking for entertainment and randy sex. It may be the last place in the US where shades of Deadwood still lurk.   photography by ALEXIS DAHAN text by WALTER KIRN Elko, Nevada, just may be America’s freest town. Settlers from the Basque country came to Nevada to raise sheep and cattle on vast ranches, and Elko was at the center of it all. Today Elko is a town of casinos, brothels, coffee shops, and bars. The men who work in the gold mines in the mountains — operating machinery, driving trucks,…