Historic Nevada Club, Ely, Nevada

The 120 mile drive to Ely, Nevada from West Wendover on Highway 93 alt & Highway 93 was a scenic trip through rolling hills, without the extensive ups and downs which we had experienced on the prior travel day’s driving.The Nevada Hotel and Gambling Hall, located on East Altman Street (Highway 93) was worth the trip to Ely.  Filled with untold items of history the hotel, opened in 1929, is history and worth the trip to town.

Another fun and enjoyable stop in Ely is the  Nevada Northern Railway Museum which is  located on “A” Street at 11^th, five blocks north of the Nevada Hotel.

Kathy on a different kind of computer, Ely, NV

After an enjoyable afternoon in Ely’s historic downtown, we hooked our rig up at the Prospector’s Hotel RV Park at the south end of Ely and spend a relaxing night, surrounded by numerous historic items from the past.  The historic items found on display, both inside the hotel/casino and on the grounds make this an interesting and worthwhile stopping place.

Highway 6 from Ely to Tonopah, Nevada presented a series of ups and downs beautiful scenery and even some wild burros during the 160+ mile trip!  (Known as “The Grand Army of the Republic Highway,” Highway 6 used to be the longest highway in the country, originally stretching from Long Beach California to Massachusetts.  Today, with its western terminus shortened to Bishop, California, Highway 6 is the second longest highway in the country.)

Wild Burros on Hwy 6, Nv

Bunkers at the closed Tonopah Air base

Just east of Tonopah we passed by the site of Tonopah Air Base.  During WW II this was a bombing training base, but more recently it had a different usage.  Until they were “discovered” this base was the first home base for the F-117A Stealth Fighters!  Once the location of these “secret weapons” was discovered, the planes were moved to another location, Area 51 maybe?

It had been 10 or 11 years since we had last visited Tonopah.  At that time Kathy and I were writing a   travel book on that area.  The book which we were working on at the time of our last visit to Tonopah was “Windshield Adventuring in Southern & Central Nevada.”  We published that book in 1998 and it is now out of print. 

When we walked into the dining room of the Tonopah Station, Ramada Inn in Tonopah, it was almost as if we had never left.  Our rig was parked in the Inn’s RV Park located behind the hotel.

On our last trip to Tonopah in the ‘90’s we had been given a tour of the recently refurbished and even more recently closed Mizpah Hotel.  Built in 1907 a bar and grill were rebuilt as the Mizpah Hotel.  The hotel was named for one of the more productive mines located in the mining park, located on the hill just above it.  The first thing we noticed upon our arrival in town was that the historic, and HAUNTED, hotel was still closed.  Yes there are numerous tales of “hauntings” regarding this classic beauty.  One our favorite “haunting” stories was from the numerous people who reported the Keno board lights flashing on and off in the dining room located next door to the hotel/casino.  Flashing on and off AFTER to hotel/casino had been closed and the power to the Keno system had been TURNED OFF!

One of the attractions we had looked forward to as we planned our trip was the Tonopah Historical Mining Park.  We were not disappointed with the afternoon that we spent there.  

Tonopah Mining Museum RS

The museum is comprised of 100+ acres containing various mines, implements and materials spread across hillsides above the downtown area of Tonopah.  The mining park is located on the site of several of the historic mines and offers not only self-guided tours of mines but also the ability to look hundreds of feet down into mine a shaft.  Heather, who greeted us at the visitor center, gave a brief explanation of the park just prior to showing a motion picture about the park before beginning our self guided tour of the facility.  Virtually everything to do with historic mining, including an old  mine is open for the visitor’s inspection.

From many spots in the mining park, one is able to look down the hill to “downtown” Tonopah and to the rear of the now vacant Mizpah Hotel.

While we were at the Central Nevada Museum, also located in Tonopah, we met Alan Metscher who, among other things is the President of the Central Nevada Historical Society and a director of the Tonopah museum.  Alan’s tour of the items located BEHIND the museum was quite interesting.  Many of these items were from the WW II Tonopah Air Base.  Included was wreckage from planes that had crashed at the air base.  One of the items located there was a tower, which had been used to observe practice bombing on the base, but had been moved to the local high school for use as an announcer’s stand!  Eventually the tower ended in its present location, behind the museum.  We later learned that Mr. Metscher is the author of a book and a CD on the history of the Tonopah Air Base. 

We will always remember Viola at the Ramada Inn.  Viola was one of those people who helped make our visit to Tonopah complete.  THANK YOU VIOLA! 

We were in “familiar” territory since our arrival in Tonopah and the rest of the journey back to Southern California would be on familiar roads, back roads when possible.  But, we had one more “old friend” of a town to visit before heading for home.  

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 11:24 am and is filed under Yellowstone Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.