Northern Nevada: History, solitude lend quiet quality to Ely

Atop a gently sloping ridge a few miles out of town, the diesel engine pulling two passenger cars full of fourth-graders along the Hiline Route grinds to a halt.

Overlooking the Steptoe Valley, train riders have a clear view of the long, slender city of Ely; the vast, open high desert surrounding it; and the rugged mountains that maintain their snow caps, even on a warm May day. The valley is one that attracts visitors who come to hunt, fish, explore nature parks, or escape the heat from elsewhere. It is also home to the Nevada Northern Railway Museum, which on this particular day was being used to introduce local pupils to an important part of their hometown history.

The conductor, who doubles as the train's brakeman, jumps off the open air passenger car and disengages it from the locomotive. Slowly, the train advances to a sidetrack, changes directions and returns to the main line on the other side of our passenger cars to bring the train back to town -- much to the chagrin of the 10-year-olds enjoying a day away from the classroom.

The railway, the city's pride and perhaps its most expensive asset, is billed as a "historical operating museum." After the train returns to station from its 22-mile trek, conductor Steve Leith shows off the other half of the museum, the old lathes and pressing equipment stored in an enormous building that was used to maintain the railroad since it first ran to town in 1906. Counter to common practice, the museum allows guests to see up close an aging, but functional machine shop that is used by railroad men to this day.

Although currently relegated to tourism excursions, school outings and special occasions throughout the warmer months, the Nevada Northern Railway was once the lifeline of the city. From 1906 through 1983, the tracks carried gold, silver and copper ore from mines to smelters. When copper mining ceased to be profitable, the Kennecott Copper Co. folded and donated its Ely railroad property to a White Pine County-based foundation.

The railway is one of many remnants of the Old West that never dies, but fades away in little Northern Nevada cities like Ely. Like many of its counterparts dotting that "empty" part of the state map, Ely is not all too different in appearance and lifestyle from how it was when the American frontier came to a close. As it always was, the community is home to cowboys and American Indians, gold miners, wide open spaces, the railroad and, yes, one of those places that is legal in 14 Nevada counties.

Unlike its counterparts, Ely has changed over the years going boom and bust along with the fortunes of mining. Although today a struggling city (fewer than 4,000 residents), Ely's infrastructure suggests a prosperous past when it proclaimed itself "mining capital of the West" and was home to the tallest building in Nevada, the six-story Hotel Nevada.

The hotel, like the city, exists as sort of a monument to itself. Hotel literature claims the hotel was once a popular stopover for Hollywood stars on their way to Idaho and cites Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Stephen King, Jimmy Stewart, Mickey Rooney and Evel Knievel among its former guests. Wayne Newton is said to have made his start as an entertainer at the hotel. Many of the rooms, which typically run $19.95 single-occupancy or $24.95 double-occupancy, are decorated to reflect some of these guests.

Name-dropping may be the least memorable aspect of the hotel, which is loaded to the rafters with wood carvings, weapon collections, taxidermy and other knickknacks that defy a common theme. A gun below a picture of George Washington is said to have belonged to the first president. A large bronze horse and a dummy in a cowboy hat decorate some steps in front of the casino cage. Roughly as many artifacts are crammed into the corners of the hotel's gaming floor as are on display at the White Pine Public Museum down the street.

For such a small city, Ely and its surrounding communities host a surprising quantity of sightseeing, more than could be crammed into my two-day visit. In the past year, the city has been decorated with several public murals depicting the culture that was fostered by mining, the railroad and extensive immigration. Commissioned by a nonprofit group and paid for through public grants, the murals are part of a push by the city to make it more attractive to casual visitors who may be stopping over on their way through Nevada.

One of the murals, adorning the side of the town's original drug store, depicts the store's founders, Adolph and Elizabeth Sundberg. The store is still owned and operated by the same family. Other murals portray a Basque shepherd, a copper mining pit, the railroad and a Fourth of July event from the city's past.

Devoting an afternoon, evening and morning to drive-by shootings (with my camera), I scratched off about half the items on my list: a circa 1950 drugstore in nearby McGill, fishing hole Comins Lake, the more scenic Cave Lake, the interior of the Hotel Nevada, the White Pine Public Museum, the Northern Nevada Railway Museum, two abandoned copper mines, Turkey Rock, the Stardust Lounge brothel, the state's maximum security prison, the quaint courthouse and city hall buildings, and all of the public and private murals around town.

It could easily take another couple of days to see the Ward Charcoal Ovens, the golf course, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Duck Creek and Garnet Hill (You can take home what you find.). The Lehman Caves and Great Basin National Park, which is home to the highest mountain -- Wheeler Peak -- totally within Nevada, are a little more than an hour outside of town and could fit as a day trip starting from Ely.

Although far removed from population centers, the city has some creature comforts, including a few casinos and restaurants. Various bars and restaurants around town offer ethnic and domestic specialties. A house specialty at Hotel Nevada is its Sicilian-style pizza. Plenty of lodging options are also available including the hotel, several motels, and a bed-and-breakfast that is undergoing remodeling.S U N D A Y , J U N E 3 , 2 0 0 1

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