West End of Ely, 1924 – 2020
Welcome to this weeks White Pine: Then & Now!
This is the west end of Ely in 1924 looking west towards Ruth. The Lincoln Highway was only 9 years old, but many big changes had already come to the highway in that short time. When the highway was first established through the area, it was literally nothing more than a rudimentary wagon trail through Robinson Canyon. The year 1920 saw the first of many improvements, which included the construction visible here. The original road stayed to this side of the railroad tracks, going under them at the center right of the photo while the improved road crossed the tracks here and stayed to that side until after the railroad tunnel in the mouth of the canyon. The goal of realigning the highway through the canyon was to eliminate some 17+ crossings of the road between here and the town of Ruth as well as bypass Ruth proper to instead go over what we know today as Robinson Pass due to the expansion of mining operations around Ruth. The railroad tracks you see were the Nevada Northern Railway’s original main track through the center of town, while the tracks as they exist today ran around the north side of town along the hills in the background on the right.
In today’s view, the tracks crossing the road have been removed and the road has been paved while the original wooden guardrails have also been removed.
Enjoyed the update!