Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Ely brims with scenery, history and attractions
Sitting at the junction of three major highways, Ely is a natural hub for travelers in eastern Nevada. The touristfriendly town encourages visitors to stay awhile and sample the scenery, history, attractions and adventures this part of rural Nevada has to offer.
The town boasts a busy schedule of special events and activities, especially during the summer vacation season, when there are rodeos, horse races, a bathtub race, a county fair and more.
Ely started out as a Pony Express station and an overland stage stop and was named in 1878 for an early mining boss. The town gained importance in 1887 when it became the seat of White Pine County. Ely boomed in 1906 after the discovery of rich copper deposits nearby.
The town nestles in the hills below the world’s largest open-pit copper mine. Situated at 6,400 feet elevation, Ely experiences freezing nighttime temperatures all but four months of the year. Its cold, snowy winters are ideal for a variety of winter sports, and summertime visitors enjoy comfortable conditions and a break from the fierce summers of Nevada’s desert areas.
Ely is 242 miles from Las Vegas along scenic U.S. 93, the Great Basin Highway, which junctions there with U.S. Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 50. It is central to ghost towns, archaeological sites, scenic drives, a wildlife viewing site, off-road vehicle routes, hiking trails, fishing in area streams and ponds and hunting.
Ely has lived through several booms and busts common in mining towns.
When Kennecott Copper closed its operations near Ely in the early 1970s, it left behind a legacy for the town. Today, Kennecott’s corporate offices, railroad yard, depot, miles of track and vintage rolling stock make for an interesting historical attraction: the Nevada Northern Railway.
In operation as a company railroad for more than 60 years, the Nevada Northern has been restored and turned into a renowned rail museum. It offers a busy schedule of excursion trains, as well as guided tours of the yards and other facilities. Find more information and book fares online at nnry.com.
As you drive in downtown Ely, you cannot miss the statues and large murals decorating many building walls, promoted by the local Renaissance Society. They depict historical events in Ely’s past and show the diversity of cultures attracted to the remote Nevada outpost. Popular art walks follow the works in the compact downtown area.
The society also maintains Renaissance Village, a collection of 12 shotgun houses and a barn built more than a century ago. History buffs will particularly enjoy the White Pine County Museum located downtown not far from the handsome 1909 courthouse, which is still in use, and the historic Nevada Hotel and Gambling Hall, built in 1929.
Great Basin National Park, Nevada’s only national park, is about an hour’s drive from Ely. The park offers cave tours, hiking, camping, fishing, astronomy programs and scenic drives in the forests surrounding lofty Wheeler Peak, one of the highest mountains in the state.
Cave Lake State Park and Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park are a few miles south of Ely off U.S. 93. Visitors to Cave Lake can continue on the Success Summit Road, one of the most scenic side roads in Nevada, and return on a loop to U.S. 93 north of Ely.
If you’ve already bought tickets, it’s time to get yourself ready. Alcatraz is on a rock, on a hard place to reach in the middle of the fog/wind-prone bay, so dress in layers and wear sturdy walking shoes — to get from the dock to the cell blocks, you’ll be trudging up a steep path, the vertical equivalent of climbing 13 stories. A tram is available for visitors with limited mobility.
Get to Pier 33 a half-hour before your boat departs. Even the ferry trip through the brisk, salty spray is a treat. Most people rush onto the boat and climb to the top deck for the views. But if you want to disembark faster, stay on the lower deck. You can still see plenty from the big windows, and there’s a snack bar there if you want to nibble on the 15-minute trip. Warning: You’ll be on Alcatraz at least a couple of hours, there are no food sales on the island (only water), and munching on snacks you’ve brought is only permitted near the dock area.
Tours are offered during the day, of course, but there are two departures for “after hours” evening tours at 5:55 and 6:30 p.m.
Day and night tours are the same, sort of — but you really can’t go wrong. Your selection depends on your schedule and your mood. Whichever tour you choose, make sure you take the 45-minute selfguided audio tour of the cell blocks, the dining hall, the prison library and more, with great information on history and lore, the famous inmates and escape attempts. The tours are available in 11 languages, and some of the narration — recorded in 1985 — is from former inmates and guards.
Audio tours make for an eerie scene as silent visitors — ears covered with headphones — wander around like zombies.
Short guided tours and minilectures are also available, provided by National Park rangers in the daytime and by docents from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy at night. Be sure to take advantage of the knowledgeable guides. They love to answer questions. (Although they’re a little tired of, “Are there any ghosts?” You’ll be hard-pressed to find a guide who admits to seeing one, darn it!)
Like anything, there are pros and cons to the day/night decision. During the day, you can explore more of the island, because more areas are open in daylight. Con: It’s a lot more crowded. Up to 1,500 people may be wandering around at any given time during the midday peak.
At night, the landmark is less crowded, with only about 600 visitors at a time. And “it’s different when it’s dark,” says history interpreter Jim Nelson, who’s been working on Alcatraz for 18 years. “The atmosphere, especially when the fog comes in, it feels like a film noir out here.” Indeed, moonlight filters through the barred windows, peeling paint makes weird shadows, fog horns moan in sorrow. Plus the hospital wing is often open (it’s not usually open during the day), and you can see the old X-ray and surgical rooms, eerily lit with floor lanterns. Kids like to make spooky “oooeeeaaooo” sounds. And every night at 8:45 p.m., they do a mock lockdown, slamming the cell doors — the clang heard ’round the block.
Con: Some areas of the island, where the terrain is rougher, are closed off at night for safety reasons.
The coolest thing about either day or night tours is you can go where you want, when you want — you’re not locked into a formal presentation, and you can wander around at your leisure. “We have Alcatraz groupies who come and stay all day long,” 25-year veteran ranger John Cantwell says.
Then you can take a later boat back. The last one departs to the sparkle of San Francisco at 9:25 p.m.