Ely, Nevada

Ely ( /ˈiːli/) is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. Ely's mining boom came later than the other towns along US 50, with the discovery of copper in 1906. Though the railroads connecting the First Transcontinental Railroad to the mines in Austin and Eureka have long been removed, the railroad to Ely is preserved as a heritage railway by the Nevada Northern Railway and known as the Ghost Train of Old Ely.^[1][2] As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,255.

[edit]History

Ely street scene 1906

Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. Ely's mining boom came later than the other towns along US 50, with the discovery ofcopper in 1906. This made Ely a mining town, suffering through the boom-and-bust cycles so common in the West. Originally, Ely was home to a number of copper mining companies, Kennecott being the most famous. With a crash in the copper market in the mid 1970s, Kennecott shut down and copper mining disappeared (temporarily).

With the advent of cyanide heap leaching—a method of extracting gold from what was previously considered very low-grade ore—the next boom was on. Many companies processed the massive piles of "overburden" that had been removed from copper mines, or expanded the existing open-pit mines to extract the gold ore. Gold mines as widespread as the Robinson project near Ruth, and AmSelco's Alligator Ridge mine 65 miles (104 km) from Ely, kept the town alive during the 1980s and 1990s, until the recent revival of copper mining.

As Kennecott's smelter was demolished, copper concentrate from the mine is now shipped by rail to Seattle, where it is transported to Japan for smelting. The dramatic increase in demand for copper in 2005 has once again made Ely a copper boom town.

The now defunct BHP Nevada Railroad ran from the mining district south of Ruth through Ely to the junction with the Union Pacific at Shafter from 1996-99.

[edit]Attractions

Ely is a tourism center, and is home of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. Nearby are Great Basin National Park, Cave Lake State Park, and Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park, as well as the state parks of Lincoln County, Nevada.

The railroad museum features the Ghost Train of Old Ely, a working steam engine passenger train that travels the historic tracks from Ely to the Robinson mining district.

Ely is the nearest town to the proposed site of the Clock of the Long Now on Mount Washington.

The historic, six-story Hotel Nevada.^[3] is located in downtown Ely. Opened in 1929, it was the tallest building in Nevada well into the 1940s and was the state's first fire-proof building. It is a popular lodging, dining, gaming and tourist stop.

The long stretch of road on State Route 318 near Ely is known for the annual 90 miles (145 km) Silver State Classic Challenge course, an authorized time trial Cannonball Run-style race that attracts entries from all over the world.

The Ely Renaissance Society has financed more than twenty outdoor murals and sculptures in the downtown area. Artists from all over the world have been commissioned to create images of area history, using different art styles. They also maintain a historical village consisting of a general store and several shotgun houses which display the history of the ethnic groups that came to the area to work for the railroad and the mine.^[4]

[edit]Wildlife viewing

A rutting male Elk

The Bureau of Land Management, part of the United States Department of the Interior, operates an area supporting an elk herd south of town. The Ely Elk Viewing Area offers visitors the opportunity to see an elk community up close.

[edit]Sports

The UNLV Rebels football team conducts its summer training camp in Ely, which provides a cooler place for August practices and prepares the team for the high altitude of most Mountain West Conference road games.

[edit]Notable residents

§  A. J. Carpenter, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral

§  Pat Nixon, the wife of Richard M. Nixon, and the former First Lady of the United States, was born in Ely on March 16, 1912.

§  Dave Ulrich, university professor, author, speaker, management coach, and management consultant

§  Rodney Walker, designer and builder

[edit]Film history

§  The climactic scene to the 2001 movie Rat Race was filmed in Ely, in and around the restored train depot of the railway museum.

§  Operation Haylift (1950) by director William A. Berke, is about a historical event that took place in White Pine County. George N. Swallow was portrayed by Joe Sawyer. Sawyer was also the producer and co-screenplay writer for the film.

§  Roadside Prophets (1992), an independent film directed by Abbe Wool.

§  My Blueberry Nights (2007), was directed by Wong Kar-wai.

§  Play Dead (2008), a film directed by Jason Wiles.

§  Guncrazy (1992), starring Drew Barrymore

[edit]Geography and climate

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.1 square miles (18.5 km²), all of it land.

Ely experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk). The Western Climate Center reports that average January temperatures are a maximum of 39.3 °F (4.1 °C) and a minimum of 10.6 °F (−11.9 °C). Average July temperatures are a maximum of 87.2 °F (30.7 °C) and a minimum of48.3 °F (9.1 °C). High temperatures of 90°F (32°C) or higher occur on an average of 20.5 days annually. Low temperatures of 32°F (0°C) or lower occur on an average of 217.5 days annually. The record high temperature was 101 °F (38 °C) on July 18, 1998. The record low temperature was −30 °F (−34 °C) on February 6, 1989. Average annual precipitation is 9.65 inches (24.5 cm). There are an average of 69 days annually with measurable precipitation. The wettest year was 1897 with 16.16 inches (41.0 cm) and the dryest year was 1974 with 4.22 inches (10.7 cm). The most precipitation in one month was 5.52 inches (14.0 cm) in April 1900. The most precipitation in 24 hours was 2.52 inches (6.4 cm) on September 26, 1982. Average annual snowfall is 52.0 inches (132 cm). The snowiest year was 1964 with 101.3 inches (257 cm). The most snowfall in one month was 42.0 inches (107 cm)in March 1894.^[5]