Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Ely,NV- just riding around town.

We are a little further north, it is a little cooler - mid 90's and higher elevation at 6437 feet. We left Pioche around 10 o'clock yesterday and followed US93 north. As we left the area I got a quick shot of the old mine mill. 
As we continued north we began to see snow on the far away mountains. This is Mount Wheeler at 13,000 feet. 
Also did some climbing. The RV worked really well, we of course are towing the Jeep and we had the AC running the whole time. Nothing heated up. 
And then we started downhill and the road got a little twisty. Scenery was pretty. Lots of greenery.  
We got to Ely - pronounced ee lee around noon. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. It has a population of around 4200 and is 6437 feet high. We are staying at the KOA - in one of their only satellite friendly spots. Level sites, good WiFi and our satellite TV works as does our cell phone. Nice grocery store just up the road. 
Next to the last space in the park. And no trees. Today by mid afternoon it got really windy. Glad we are not on the road. Sitting tight to be able to watch the soccer game tonight. We watched the one last night too - sorry for the USA, but Argentina had the much better game. 
This morning we left  for town to look around. Neat building with nice old car out front. 
Ely has quite a few murals and I found the web site about them. The Ely Renaissance Society has facilitated more than 20 outdoor murals and sculptures.
This one is called United by Our Children Mural. 
This mural depicts the role of the Basque people in the community. The sheeperders were recruited to the West from the Pyrenees Mountains to herd sheep. Many stayed and ended up owning the ranches where they worked. 
No information about this one. It is rather strange. Touring an underground silver mine.
A cute donkey on the side of the Hotel Nevada and below it a mural showing the charcoal ovens not far from here. 
These two murals recognize the efforts of Italian workers who built the Ward Charcoal ovens to provide charcoal to operate the smelter in the Ward Mining District. The second mural recognizes the efforts by a second group of Italian workers who built the railroad that hauled the ore. 
A historic interpretive art style used for this mural tends to evoke powerful emotions from viewers as they gaze on the faces of miners from all ethnic groups who labor to retrieve the copper. 
Couldn't find any information about this one. Wish the picture was better, but took it on the fly. 
Hotel Nevada and Gambling Hall opened 1929 and was the tallest building in Nevada well into the 1940's. It was the stat's first fire proof building. 
One of the smaller museums in town. 
Love this house and it's decorations. 
This is part of a Sculpture Park. Giant ore triples used in the mines creat this giant sculpture resting next to a metal basin and range mountains. 
Ely Renaissance members created this replica of the 1950 station. This station is complete with a truck, coke machine, and gas pumps!
All the supplies showing in the windows are painted. 
Even the car up on the ramp is painted - front view. 
Same car, side view - cute. 

Not a mural, just a business. Hum...? In Ely?
These panels tell the story of the Pony Express and the telegraph lines as they crossed through White Pine County.
The Nevada Northern Railway Museum. 


The station master's office. 
The back of the station. We did not go in the museum, just walked around outside. 
Some metal sculptures outside of McDonalds.


Again no information about this mural. 
An exciting montage of communications over time, this mural spans the telephone's invention by Alexander Graham Bell and delves on into the modern technology of today. 
There is actually quite a bit to do around here. Including hunting for and finding garnets. But because of the heat and the altitude we more or less did what we could while in the car. 
For more pictures of Ely and of the Railroad museum click here

2 comments:

Janet said...

Great photos! Weather concerns mean that we drive to the KOA, spend the night and leave. So, that's what Ely downtown looks like? Maybe one winter or spring when the weather cooperates we'll spend some time and look around. I am a sucker for trains, so the train station would be nĂºmero uno on the list.

Carol and Bill said...

you can take a train ride for $31 each and visit the museum and round house etc. We didn't cause Bill doesn't go for those things and altitude bothers him.