South of Twin Falls was farming country for about the first 50 miles and then the land got drier and scrubbier, with towns few and far between. I took a couple pictures about 20 miles north of the Nevada state line:
Further down the road about 50 miles south of Wells, the landscape is basically a desert with scrubby bushes everywhere:
Further down US93, there was a rest stop at a point where the Pony Express crossed through the "Great Basin" on its way west (and east, too, I presume). They had a number of exhibits and placards describing the Pony Express and how it was operated. Pretty interesting:
I got into Ely around 1:00 local (Pacific) time and went to the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. Up until 1983, there was a smelting operation in the Ely area where copper ore, which is still being mined, was smelted into copper and shipped out on rail cars. The Smeltery closed down in 1983 and the railroad also closed, since it had no other business. Local groups have saved the railway and are running excursion trains through the area, as well as operating the museum. I found it very interesting:
The museum is housed in the old train station, which also has the railroad's maintenance shops and switch yard adjacent to it:
The yard was interesting, with a lot of old railroad equipment, including box cars that were built in 1912:
I found the maintenance shops to be very interesting. Here they are overhauling a Baldwin Locomotive that was build in 1910 and that they still use to pull excursion trains:
The machine shop included original, very large machine tools dating back to the very early 20th century. This is a lathe that is being used to repair a pair of train wheels:
It was nicely done, and it's a working museum with volunteers donating teir their time to keep the trains running.
Tomorrow, it's down to Cedar City, Utah, near Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.
Miles today: 263
Total: 4,704