A growing problem

Overshadowed by the size and strength of the healthy Clark County economy, many Northern Nevada communities have fallen on severe economic hard times in relative obscurity. Where the south adds master-planned communities, the state disincorporates northern cities such as Gabbs to save money on services. Where residents of the south dread growth for destroying their way of life, northern cities fear their shrinking economies threaten their way of life.

When two mines closed outside the city of Ely in 1999, the loss of jobs and income devastated the local economy. Businesses folded and the real estate market fell so sharply that several homes were abandoned and others were given away to nonprofit groups.

The city, 240 miles north of Las Vegas along U.S. Highway 93, had a population of about 5,400 in mid-1999. Local estimates are that the city has lost more than 20 percent of its population since then with even more residents expected to leave over the summer.

Unlike other struggling cities in rural Nevada, residents of Ely aren't prepared to fold just yet. Motivated to preserve a way of life that has remained intact over the decades, residents are scrambling for ways to stimulate their economy and make their city grow once again.

End of an era

One of the more symbolic changes in Ely today is coming across U.S. Highway 50, where fiber-optic cable will soon reach the city. The fiber optic will replace the city's old copper wires in the transmission of high-speed data, allowing the city to say goodbye -- at least in one way -- to the metal that supported it for so long.

Copper was king in Ely for nearly a century. At one time, the city and its surrounding communities were the hub of as many as 13 mines and their accompanying smelting operations. Ely was a major producer of copper, gold and silver, off and on, for most of the 20th century. Plummeting metal prices throughout the 1990s saw a series of mine closures: Magma Copper Co. in the middle of the last decade, followed by Alta Gold and BHP in 1999.

Today, only a single active venture, the Bald Mountain gold mine, remains in all of White Pine County and city leaders feel they can no longer count on the boom-and-bust nature of mining-related jobs for support.

Mining, once the major employer, is now a minor player. About one-third of jobs are in the public sector with more than 10 percent of White Pine County's 3,000 or so jobs based at the state's maximum security prison.

"Mining is wonderful when it's going on, but we need to diversify to stabilize our economy," said John Gianoli, president of First National Bank of Ely, which he said is the longest continuously operating bank in the state of Nevada. "We're trying to grow our own economic opportunity here."

Warning to Southern Nevada: Diversification has been a goal in White Pine County for many years and with the closure of its mines and the accompanying shrinking of its economy, it now represents a very formidable challenge.

Proposals are plentiful and range from the likely to the far-fetched to the merely rumored. Speculative projects talked about in the bars and restaurants include a ski resort at Ward Mountain, a truck stop for Canada-Mexico trade traffic along U.S. Highway 93, and the re-opening of one or more mines. Gianoli, along with Karen Rajala, coordinator of the White Pine County Economic Diversification Council, prefer to focus on the more realistic proposals.

They have three main ones in mind: a coal-fired power generation station; conversion of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum back into a working industrial railroad; and "home-grown" businesses such as Ely on Water.

The power plant idea originally was bandied about with the city of Los Angeles about seven years ago. L.A. gave up on the deal after running into red tape. Rajala believes recent circumstances may encourage Los Angelenos to reconsider.

The railway museum is one of the city's most valuable assets, a fully operational short line railroad with 38 miles of track, a maintenance yard, train station and several engines. It was donated to a local historical foundation in 1983 by Kennecott Copper Co., which had no use for the railroad when its mines were closed. During warmer months, it is used as a "working museum" for visitors to ride and explore.

Despite its relative dormancy, the railroad could still be used to haul coal to a power plant or oil from Washington to a little-used refinery in neighboring Nye County. It could also support "home-grown" jobs, such as shipping water from an existing bottling plant, Ely on Water, to more locations, or hauling waste rock to population centers for use in landscaping.

"Diversity is the key, rather than focusing on one main business," Rajala said. "We all want growth and some stability in our economy here. We also like our way of life and want the city to survive so we can preserve it.

"We want to be big enough to sustain the kinds of services we want in the area."

Rajala said Ely probably could achieve those goals at about 2-3 times its size, which is currently about 4,000 residents. That would help stabilize the community's economy, allow a reasonable population to support local services such as the school district, and possibly encourage more local youths not to leave the city in search of opportunities. Countywide, barely 10,000 residents occupy 8,900 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts.

Rajala said the county's problem in attracting business isn't a poor image, but a low profile. Gianoli interjects with the answer: tourism. The value of tourism, they said, is in promoting the area's potential for other businesses: Once people see the area, they like it.

"We find that a number of those people look into the area as a place for small business opportunities once they start spending some time here," Rajala said.

The other advantage, she said, is that tourism puts money into an economy quickly, which the county needs. Other industries are more stable, but take more time.

A museum of itself

Tourism-related activity around Ely is surprisingly ambitious for such a small community. Since the beginning of last year, the community has hired a full-time tourism director, completed the first five installments of a mural project and commissioned an original play celebrating the history of the region.

The expansion of White Pine County's tourism infrastructure, which already included the railroad museum, state and federal parks, hunting and fishing, a golf course, and even a commercial airport large enough for 737s, allows the city to maintain its character and increase its business, according to tourism director Ed Spear.

"Our No. 1 asset is our railroad and our culture. There's a mystery about the West and about the railroad. People still live and work the way they did years and years ago. There are stores here that (have been) open since day one, owned by the same family," Spear said. "I don't think we'll ever be another Williamsburg, Va., but we need to go for that angle. Our goal is to create a living history of the West."

Having been on the job for just over a year, Spear has spent months on the road spreading the word about Ely. He believes tourism will come, but he's aware of the limitations. Most tourists, he said, are interested in shopping, something Ely can never provide. Instead, he aims for the second largest group of tourists -- those seeking outdoor recreation. What Ely can add to that is a historical and cultural experience.

"I don't think Ely will ever be a major destination, but I think we can make it a good stopover," he said.

As a stopover, Spear believes visitors can find a couple of days worth of activity in the city to supplement their visit to Great Basin National Park, or to a hunting or fishing expedition.

"We have the most opportunities for people to recreate on public lands," Spear said.

Spear, agreeing with most of the city's promoters, believes tourism is the key to drawing more stable industries and greater opportunities.

Currently, the opposite seems to be true. Dying industries have presented opportunities to create tourism draws. The Nevada Northern Railway is the most noticeable example.

Ken Dailey, executive director, believes the railway museum plays a crucial role in the city's tourism draw. The museum is one of the few in the country to allow visitors full access to facilities, and as such, draws visitors from around the world, according to Dailey.

"It's a working museum, which is unusual for a railroad. We allow people to look around the yards and shop. It's a rare opportunity to see how a railroad functions," Dailey said.

For years, the trains ran from Keystone to McGill, bringing ore from the mines to the smelters before shipping the metals out to the rest of the country along Union Pacific lines. The system had been mostly inactive since 1965, but in 1987, several trains were pulled out of mothballs, and began taking tourists along two routes using its two steam and nine diesel locomotives.

Dailey has ambitious plans for the system, including the possibility of adding gambling trains, sponsored by a major casino.

About 90 percent of the museum's work force is volunteers, including ticket takers, train crew and maintenance personnel, some of whom worked for the railroad when it carried freight. The museum has six full-time staffers.

Another industry fading into the past, ranching, is providing another possible tourism draw south of town. The decline of private ranches roughly follows the decline of the family farm, as weather and economies of scale have made the practice too risky for small-time operations.

The Nevada Division of Wildlife, acting through the state, seized an opportunity more than a year ago to acquire the former 3C Ranch, a 6,400-acre parcel straddling U.S. Highway 93, for $4 million. Perhaps the largest and most visible ranch in the county, it was purchased by the state for conversion into the Steptoe Valley Wildlife Management Area, a multi-use wildlife management area.

Chris Crookshanks, a fisheries biologist for the NDOW, said Comins Lake, the most prominent feature on the ranch, has served as a popular fishing hole since 1996. The lake will be allowed to expand to about twice its current size, about 410 acres, after years of being drained for irrigation. The management area will also be used to support wildlife, including deer, elk, waterfowl, bats and fish.

"We're trying to maximize all the land that was purchased," Crookshanks said.

When completed, the management area will allow visitors to hunt, fish and view wildlife. An interpretive center will describe flora and fauna indigenous to the area.

One of the more prominent projects in town is a series of murals depicting the city's multicultural heritage. The mural project was designed to improve the look of the city and to instill community pride, according to Virginia Terry, chairman of the Ely Renaissance Society.

"But it's also a tool of economic development because it builds town pride," Terry said.

The idea for the murals, Terry said, started with Doris Drummond of Las Vegas, who in turn got the idea from a logging community in British Columbia.

So far, five public murals and several private ones have been completed. Two more public murals are planned.

The theme -- "Where the World Met and Became One" -- recognizes the many immigrant cultures that met in Ely. In the early 20th century, immigrants flooded into the area to work in the mines with the incentive that they could gain citizenship. The laborers formed neighborhoods on ethnic lines but came together in public venues such as schools and Fourth of July picnics.

One of the murals depicts an early Fourth of July in the city. Oddly, it was designed by a Canadian, Colin Williams. The mural was dedicated on the Fourth of July last year.

Another image celebrates the Liberty Pit, an open copper mine that provided employment for immigrant workers. This one, appropriately enough, was designed by a Chinese-born artist, Wei Luan, who defected to Canada following the Tianenmen Square uprising.

Luan also completed a mural depicting the Sundbergs, a Scandinavian family that opened a drug store in Ely. The mural was painted onto the side of the store, which is still in operation and owned by the same family. The same mural depicts the Cherry Creek hot springs spa, a concept Adolph Sundberg brought with him from Scandinavia and transplanted in Northern Nevada.

Other murals portray a Basque shepherd and a train and cattle drive.

The Sundberg mural has inspired a theater production based on the experiences of the family moving to Nevada. It debuts next month.

Funding for the murals has come from grants, a significant tool of redevelopment in the city, according to Rajala.

The basis for the murals is to add a touch of culture to the city's tourism package, the culture of Ely's past, according to Terry. If nothing else, she hopes it instills civic pride and makes the city more attractive to investors.

Hilde Horton, a local Realtor who recently quit her job at the Hotel Nevada to devote her full time to real estate, believes the trend toward investment is already on the upswing. She said homes for sale, which flooded the market two years ago, have returned to a more reasonable level, about 150-200 on the market, and points to new-home developments as proof of recovery.

Horton operates one of three real estate offices in White Pine County. Combined, they offer more than 150 homes for sale in Ely, Ruth, McGill and Lund. The homes are popular as vacation residences among Las Vegas residents because of their cheapness and proximity to the city.

"They're buying them for summer homes and they're buying them for retirement," Horton said.

It makes for some very quiet neighborhoods much of the time, a little too quiet for some residents, but as Horton said, "It's better than having them sit empty."

She said homes in the area are priced from $18,000 for a small patch of land with a mobile home, to $260,000 for a fairly large home with 20 acres. The center of the market is about $40,000 to $65,000 for an old but refurbished home measuring about 800 to 1,200 square feet. Acreage sells for about $10,000 for five acres. In addition, the community has some small ranches for sale, some as large as 400 acres and priced cheaper than many high-end homes in Las Vegas.

"There's a little of everything out there," Horton said.

Also for sale is a limited supply of office/shop space, a cabinet shop and a bed-and-breakfast. Buildings with more than 5,000 square feet of office and retail space are available.

"We have the opportunities for people to come here and do almost anything for a business," she said.

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