Ely

Ely is a small town in eastern Nevada, surrounded by high ridges and wide plateaus. The streets run parallel between low buildings of red brick and old wooden houses, while abandoned mine shafts and tailings piles at the edge of town recall the former industry.

A station for stagecoaches appeared here in the late 1870s, when travelers moved between mining camps in the west. The discovery of rich copper deposits in the neighboring valleys at the beginning of the 20th century made the settlement grow quickly and drew thousands of workers.

An old locomotive sits on the tracks of the former railway that once carried miners and ore through the dry valleys. Visitors can sit inside the carriages and walk through the workshops where mechanics still repair historic trains.

Three federal highways lead here from different directions and allow travelers to arrive by car across wide, open landscapes. The town sits at about 1960 meters (roughly 6430 feet) elevation, which means the air is thin and the temperature can turn cool at night even in summer.

A small airstrip at the edge of town connects the place with remote ranches and allows pilots to fly over the empty basins and mountain chains. From here, travelers drive on to a nearby national park where caves and peaks rising above 4000 meters (roughly 13000 feet) tower over the desert.