Very long report of our day. Pictures of Ely Train Museum, Ruby Mountains, and Lamoille will be posted after we get home.
Breakfast was from a continental breakfast without much choices, so we took a few things for the ice chest but ended up going to the Silver State café for a big breakfast. We drove around the town just a little and came across two interesting things – The Northern Nevada Railroad – East Ely Railroad Depot Museum and also discovered that the town has more than 18 large, and very good, murals painted on building walls on two of the main streets.
We were only going to take a quick look at the railroad museum. We found we had just missed a train ride to the Ruth Copper Pit and mill about 50 miles away – used to be the largest open pit copper mine in the word. We could still hear the whistle in the distance. Not another ride until 4:30. For some reason we regretted not taking the train ride. Then we started talking to the clerk there in the gift shop, an old guy in a railroad cap, and the more he told us the history and what they had, he talked us into taking the self-tour into the machine shop. There are four acres of railroad shops and yard that encompasses this museum. The buildings are all preserved as they were, and some of the very best I’ve ever seen. Volunteers, even the engineers and conductors, come from around the country to keep the trains running and the museum buildings preserved. The train was built to transport the ore from the mine in the early 1900’s. They had records in the depot, along with complete office materials from 1905.
One interesting thing I’d never realized was that the copper used for electrical wire from Ely was instrumental in lighting the nation at the time electric power was in its beginning stages. Also they separated gold and silver and stored the bullion in a safe in the basement. We got to see the safe which was encased in cement and rebar and is three stories or levels used for different purposes.
The whole depot building is in excellent shape. It was used as offices, associated with the transportation of the ore from the Ruth copper pit mine. The mill was at McGill about 10 miles north of Ely, but 50 miles. In those days the mine employed 1400 people. It was owned by Kennecott Copper and they sold out a Canadian company which ships the refined copper ore to China – can you imagine. The gold and silver is left in the ore but they take out the molybdenum and keep it here, it is worth so much. Now because of improved technology, the mine employs about 400 people. It was totally fascinating for both of us. We parked up near the shop and walked into another era.
There were about four mechanics or machinists working in there, repairing and refurbishing steam engines and old diesel engines. They all talked to us about what they were doing. One guys who was from Ely, was a mechanic who started there as an apprentice in his 20’s and now is a little younger than me. He travels all over the country to repair the "undercarriage" (for lack of knowing the right word) of old trains and steam engines. He is an expert at it, and surely one of the few doing that kind of work now. He was repairing two steam engines there that had cracked axles, but it involved more than the axles. He has to machine new parts on lathes and presses there, or have parts made in distant machine shops and then he puts the train back together. He had every wheel on the engine off, with it blocked up over a pit. His undertaking was very impressive. He was going to Atlanta next, and they wanted him back here again to repair a second steam locomotive with cracked axles. A young man said he was working with his dad maintaining the old diesel engines they are using for the tours. He seemed very happy with his job. His dad might have been in his 70s and still working there as a mechanic.
When we’d seen all we could in that very large room, we went into the next part of the building. There were stored two more steam locomotives, and all kinds of old types of cars and a few diesel engines. There was a very old coal fired rotary snow blower for clearing the tracks, and many other kinds of track maintenance equipment. There were also a few of the old equipment they used in the mining operations. There was also an old locker room of long ago, very interesting. We both got about a million pictures of all that as well as the machine room. We were thoroughly happy to have spent the time to see the train museum.
The whole thing is run by the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs Division of Museums and History. http://www.nnry.com/ and http://www.nevadaculture.com/ .
We wanted to check out the murals and did that next, just by driving up and back down the street. The responsible group was called the East Ely Renaissance Society. Apparently this society puts on some kind of a pageant every year. But artists from locally and around the US have painted the different murals of local historical scenes. http://www.elymurals.com/
By now it was about 1:30 and we hadn’t even left Ely yet. We decided to snack on what we had in the ice chest for lunch and not stop again, but set out on 93 north for sightseeing in the Ruby Mountains. It’s about 140 miles from Ely to Elko, without any side trips, where we figured our best bet was to stay tonight. The way was through a vast long unpopulated valley with hills and mountains on each side. At one place we could see 7 dust devils at once out across the vast expanse. We were not well prepared with information or good maps; the best map we had was a Nevada road map from the 1970’s that Debbie had brought along. This is poor planning and leads to indecision on my part about whether we should proceed or not. At about 100 miles up the road we turned off to Ruby Valley and drove south. We were on a good gravel road, perhaps with a mag surface like at home. The fields and landscape are very green right now, although we heard later this is a good water year. It’s not usually this green the rancher said, so he was happily irrigating and celebrating in the bar and grill where we had dinner. The Ruby Mountains rose up to the west. They are absolutely magnificent, although not nearly as massive as the Wind Rivers. The highest peak is over 13,000, about as high as ours. The rest of them were 10 or 11,000 so plenty high and still with enough snow to make a beautiful picture. People with canoes and looking like vacationers were going our way too. Without knowing exactly where we were heading and trying not to take a wrong road and end up in trouble, we stopped and asked a rancher by the side of the road on his ATV if the road was good ahead and where our turn over Harrison Pass took off. He gave us good directions and on we went. At first the pass road was rough and seemed about like going up Irish Canyon, but later was fine again and over the top and down the other side it turned into pavement again.
On the other side we turned north again. We found a gravel loop road that took us in along the Humbolt River and through an Indian reservation and drove toward Lee, one of those almost non-existent dots on a map. Very pretty, green fields and lots of cottonwoods. We came on one place where the fields were covered with wild Iris with the backdrop of the snow covered peaks. Besides regular ranches we also saw some historic buildings and the Lee schoolhouse which someone had converted into their home. We got off on our turns and started heading steadily south - the wrong direction, so went back to talk to a young man in his yard. He told us we could get to our destination Lamoille by taking a dirt road we had passed, which we backtracked to and drove for a few miles. It was rough and unmaintained and then turned into a definite two track. I told Debbie I didn’t want to go ahead on this for 15 more miles not knowing what was ahead, although she was in an adventurous mood. We backtracked out to the highway and continued to the Lamoille highway. I can’t describe the beauty of the peaks we were seeing. Sure hope if you ever get a chance to see this that you will go there.
By late afternoon we reached the lovely but tiny town of Lamoille. We tried to get a room at their very small hotel, and didn’t take the available room because it had an admitedly uncomfortable hideabed. While we were there Debbie called for a room reservation in Elko and directions. We decided to have some dinner at one of the two restaurants, one was a good steak house and the other like a bar and grill. They ignored us too long at the steak house, so walked over to get a burger at the other place. Then we drove up into the Lamoille Canyon as the sun was setting – maybe 15 miles in to the end of the road. I’ve never been in a more spectacular place. Very high canyon walls and waterfalls cascading down from the snowfields and glaciers. We must have seen 15 ? very tall, high? I’m having trouble explaining the height of them. We got alpenglow on the peaks. We stopped many times for pictures. It was glorious. Up at the end of the road was a perfect alpine meadow, with the perfect still pond in the perfect spot reflecting the peaks. We only had to step out of the car to get the pictures. Debbie really enjoyed the drive and said she was glad we didn’t miss it.
By the time we drove back down it was dark and we had another thirty minutes drive into Elko. We found our way across town in the dark according to the directions Debbie had gotten just fine. The clerk at the Oak Tree Inn told us it was lucky Debbie called when she did because there were no more rooms. It was nearly 10 p.m. again by the time we got moved into the room, and I was very tired but a happy camper. It seemed like the day was filled to the brim with things to do. There were also frustrating times while we waited too long, or went back tracking wasting time, but we just have to consider that being part of doing something like this in unfamiliar territory
