The Murals of Ely, Nevada

It's funny how when you're traveling around you sometimes find things you're not looking for. We left Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge badly in need of laundry. Checking with Lois, our trusty (mostly) GPS, we found a laundromat, right on Main Street, in Ely Nevada. Who knew? Ely is famous for it's murals. Herewith are a few.

The Ward Charcoal Ovens. The ovens, built in the 1870s manufactured high grade charcoal for the silver smelters at Ward, just south of Ely.

Celebrating the Pony Express.

When we left the laundromat we drove south a few miles to a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) elk viewing site. It was nice, free, camping was allowed, and secure, as it was the hiding spot for the local police speed enforcement zone. We woke to an inch of blowing snow and rather than face the pass to our south, we drove back north to Ely to let the day warm and catch some more of the murals. By the way we did view elk, as well as pronghorns, and a badger.

Barrooms and casinos seem to be the major industry of Ely, so this seems appropriate.

Seriously, Ely seems a bit depressed like much of the nation we have seen, but it looks like it could be a fun town to visit. The town is a typical Main Street western town, surrounded by gorgeous mountains, still snow capped here in early May.

Looking at this picture later in the day, after braving the pass, we couldn't tell if the fence was in front of the mural or part of the mural. We'll have to check next time through.

I decided to sneak a peak at the headlines while we were in town. Unfortunately, they were for 1934. Mostly about politics and the bad economy...stuff like that.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

This mural seems to celebrate the various modes of transportation that passed through Ely in the old days, showing the wagon trains, the horse drawn stages, the cattle drives and finally the arrival of the locomotive which certainly did much to change the west (the mural was so big we had to take it in two pictures).

We will head south now with a stop at Cathedral Gorge State Park.