2007 03 Eastern Nevada

2007 03 14 Ely Valley Mine

The Ely Valley Mine is now owned by same owner as Ely Pioche Mill across 93 from Pioche. The mine is north of town on the west side of US93. There are a lot of old structures here and the place is in pretty good shape considering. I went in for the day.

The first group was taken in the changing area. A nice space with some cool light. This place is definitely under lock and key and fairly remote, since memorabilia collectors love to take the clothing baskets, and they are all here. There were still clothes in some of the baskets.

The next two are from the wood shop, which mostly made timbers for shoring up the mine tunnels. This is the very large and very scary crosscut saw. You can see that it's belt driven and the blade swings on a long arm that pivots about 5 feet above the table. The handle that you use to pull the arm (and spinning 24" blade) forward is on the right side of the blade "guard" and about 3 inches from the blade itself!

This is what used to be the vehicle repair shop. It's extremely clean and the caretaker said the people he knew that worked in here kept it that way when it was operating too. It's now used for storage.

This is another part of the "auto" shop. Piles and piles of core samples.

The hoist house and air compressors that drive fresh air into the mine.

Some of the exterior rusty junk associated with the older parts of the mine here. The last 3 shots are part of a hoist that is now outside (the building it was in burned down) and was operated by the caretaker when he worked here after WW2. It's completely rusted solid now. I took some photos of him near the machine and will send them to him.

Sunset along US93. It was a very clear day. Spectacular, and hard to convey in pictures.

I drove back to Ely as the sun was afternoon was ending and got to Ely after dark. The drive is about 120 miles, most of which is straight north on US93 up the Spring Valley. Wheeler Peak is about 30 miles east of Ely, in Great Basin National Park (also here and here), and is one of the highest points in Nevada. Still, I could see it for almost all of the 100 mile drive. I think visibility was between 80 and 90 miles, maybe more. It was a remarkable day.

The tall peak in the third photo is Wheeler Peak, and it is still about 20 miles away.