The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-10-02
RAILROAD DAY IS
MATTER Of HISTORY
But New Nevada Town Made a
Great Showing to Its
Many Visitors.
CAMP IS CERTAIN
TO HAVE GREAT FUTURE
Resources Are Wonderful,
Though as Yet Really in
Their Infancy.
Special TO The Tribune.

Special to The Tribune.
ELY, New, Oct. 1.-Railroad day has
passed and Ely survives. True, her hat
is few sizes too small and there is
q trace of that seal brown taste In the
mouth that is usually manifested the
morning after. But these are mere Incl
dents that will pass away with the re-
turn OF the miners to the hills, tho
ranchmen and employees to the scat
tered farms, and the special train ex-
cursionists to their homes.
The excursionists spent Sunday In
various ways, most of them going up
the canyon to see the territory whose
immense copper deposits are so rapidly
spreading its fame abroad. Many OF
the mines were open TO visitors.
Road Come just III Time.
The rails reached into Ely barely II
time for railroad day, the first rail
inside the town plat of the present
town not being laid until after B
o'clock Friday afternoon, and 1t was
noon Saturday before the rails were
laid through the town. The rails were
laid to the new townsite, mile and a
half east, nearly a week ago, and here
a number of sidetracks were laid. Be
tween that point and the town of Ely
are two considerable cuts and some fills
and culverts. The grade was not ready
for the rails at these points until Fri
day afternoon. As the line Of rails
crept up the canyon into the town,
and the whistle of the locomtive echoed
and re-echoed from the enclosing hills,
the whole town, apparently, turned out
TO watch the work, and every person
who possessed a camera got busy, The
presence of an audience. the first they
had had In the construction OF the en~
y, Il - .N, .l,41
road men, even the plodding Greek,
Austrian and Italian laborers, to re-
newed energy, and that last stretch of
track went down in 2 hurry The track
laying machine and the locomotive of
the construction train were gaily deco
rated with flags and bunting, the Stars
and Stripes sharing the honcrs with
the colors of Greece, Austria and Italy.
The hundreds of leborers that in the
construction Of q new road are usually
worked in scattered gangs over a dis
tance of several miles were here con-
centrated on the short piece Of unfu
ished road until they swarmed over the
work like ants.
Was Plenty Of Noise.
To add to the gaiety OF the occasion
the engineer blew the locomotive whis-
tie long and loud upon the slightest
provocatlon, as though he were de-
hghted with its reverberations among
the hills. To the children, many of
whom had never seen train, the sight
was indeed a novelty, and they had
been gathering in knots for several
days discussing the subject and watch
ing the construction outfit as it could
be seen in the distance crossing tho
valley toward the town.
For new mining town Ely Seems
to be upon an excellent business basis.
This desirable condition is doubtless
due to the assured stability OF the
camp as q result of the known resources
OF the district, even In its present in
complete stage Of development, being
sufficient to alone supply the material
for production upon great scale for
more than a generation. Many build
ings have been erected recently, but
owing to the high price OF building
material and doubt in the minds OF
many as to whether the business por-
tion of the future city would be at the
present town or at the new townsite, a
mile and half below, a large portion
of these have been of temporary
character,
Some Good Buildings.
a few substantial and costly build
ings, however, have been erected. tbs
largest and most important Of which
is the "Tex" Richard building, at the
corner of Aultmen and Murray streets
1t is 70x100 feet in size and stands
upon ground for which $500 was paid
in May last. 1T is three stories, is OF
frame, lathcd with steed and cemented,
the cement being grooved and penciIed
to initiate stone. 1t is to cost $4,000,
and will present a handsome appear.
Rickard of GoldGeld, who has brother
here in the saloon business. The Gold.
field Rickard is known as 'Big Tex
and the one here as "Littlo Tex the
nickname being due to the fact that
they camo from Texas to Nevada,
Ely's only water supply for domestic
purposes at present is from wells. For
fire protection there is system of
street hYdrants supplied with water
from the Murray creek water right by
the Nevada Consolidated company,
which is carried by a ditch TO the top
of the hill Just south of the town ond
thence conducted in a pipe TO the plant
in generating electricity to light the
town and the mines of the company.
The present plans OF the Nevada 'on-
solidatea contemplate the use of
portion Of the water of Steptoe creek,
fine stream coming out of the Shell
range on the opposite side of the T5l-
lev, for the big smc)ter to be bnilt at
McGill's, and the proprietors of tho
new Ely townsitc have arranged to
pipe this water across the valley to
Ely.
Engineers have been for some time
and are still at work upon these plans,
and reservoir site is now being cleared
in Steptoe CANYON, 1t is said the point
at which Steptoe creek is to be diverted
is 400 feet above the town OF Ely and
that the water supply from this source
will be ample for all purposes and OF
excellent quality.
a townsite covering twenty acres has
been laid out at Lane, three miles up