Nevada Highway 50, which we took from Ely, is considered The Loneliest Road in America. It streches from West Sacramento/CA to Ocean City/ Maryland, on the East coast. The Nevada portion was named "The Loneliest Road in America" because of the large desolate areas traversed by the route, with few or no civilization. The highway crosses large desert valleys separated by snow-covered mountain ranges, it goes up and down, endlessly. The route was first used for the Pony Express and Central Overland Route (both mail services) and later for the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental connection in the U.S.
We stopped at Eureka's Historic Opera House - a beautiful theater from 1880 (see pics) -, and for a tunnel tour. Eureka is one of the best-preserved mining cities (silver) in the American West. 50 mines produced lead, silver, gold, and zinc for the smelters and the town was known as the "Pittsburgh of the West" in the second half of the 19th century. There were dozens of saloons, gambling houses and brothels, three opera houses, two breweries, and many other businesses. End of the century the major mines had been shut down, and many of the buildings stood empty. The Opera House (1880) was one of the first to be restored, now there are more historic buildings in good shape, like the 1877 Jackson House, the Eureka County Court House or the Eureka Sentinel Building.
The tunnel system underneith town either was constructed to connect Eureka's breweries on opposite ends of town in the heavy winters or to give the many Chinese workers a place to hide. We got a chance to see part of the tunnel system in the basement of a former saloon/bar, which was recently bought by a wealthy businessman from the Silicon Valley and which is in progress to be renovated and re-opened.
On to Austin to pick up a box lunch for the group and to stroll along historic main street with a nice shop, selling turquoise jewelry (there are several turquoise mines in NV!) and a crazy antique store (see pics). This area was home to the Western Shoshone people, then silvermining began and in 1863, Austin and the surrounding Reese River Mining District had a population of more than 10,000! Today, Austin is sort of Nevada Turquoise mecca and a "living ghost town" at the same time, a well-preserved example of an early Nevada mining town.
There is not much street signage along Hwy. 50, but in Austin there is one of the few signs (pic). Fallon, the next bigger town, is considered the "Oasis of Nevada" - a very fertile growing region, especially for grain. Also, it is home of a shooting (bombing) range of NAS (Naval Air Station Fallon), and the surrounding area contains bombing and electronic warfare ranges. In addition, there is Sand Mountain, a unique sand dune which is 2 mi long and 600 ft (180 m) high. Unfortunately, didn't have time to stop.
The Shoe Tree in Middlegate/NV - our next stop - is the place, where hundreds of discarded sneakers and other footwear had been tossed. It was cut down by vandals in 2010, but new shoes quickly sprouted from a "sister tree" nearby and, of course, our group had to throw a pair of shoes to be remembered forever.
Left Nevada's gold (and back-) country - which was a great new experience! – and arrived to Reno at about 5 pm. We had a quick stop at the Atlantis Hotel to check in, before we headed out again for the buyers' reception at the Whitney Hotel - the only non-smoking, non-casino, boutique hotel in downtown Reno, sponsored by the Colorado.
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