Cottontail Ranch, Former legal brothel in Esmeralda County, Nevada, US

Cottontail Ranch, also called the Cottontail Ranch Club, was a legal, licensed brothel at Lida Junction, where U.S. Route 95 meets State Route 266 in Esmeralda County, Nevada. It opened in October 1967 and operated until 2004, when the madam retired. A fire on September 5, 2022 destroyed what was left of the buildings; the land was still for sale afterwards.

Cottontail Ranch opened in October 1967 at Lida Junction, where U.S. Route 95 meets State Route 266 in Esmeralda County. In the 1970s madam Beverly Harrell fought a Bureau of Land Management attempt to remove the brothel from federal land; she ran for the Nevada Assembly in 1974 and published 'An Orderly House' in 1975. The brothel closed in 2004 when the madam retired, and a fire destroyed what remained on September 5, 2022.

The 1976 record 'Coming My Way' collected stories told by the brothel's employees; Ghost State Records reissued it in 2023 with new historical writings and photographs in the liner notes. Madam Beverly Harrell had already published her own book, 'An Orderly House', in 1975.

Nothing remains of the buildings after the September 5, 2022 fire; the site is bare land at the junction of U.S. Route 95 and State Route 266, about 40 km south of Goldfield, and the parcel was still listed for sale. There is no marker, so visitors should carry their own water and fuel before leaving the highway.

Howard Hughes is said to have visited the Cottontail Ranch several times in 1967 while living in Las Vegas. The claim rests on later accounts rather than records, and the ranch's own history treats it as an anecdote rather than a documented fact.