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A stone hut and shepherd's corral in Warm Springs. In the background, young rams played at locking horns in the shadow of the mountain.
Christopher Smith
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On Ely's main street, motels and restaurants sometimes struggle for success in an economy based on mining and the nearby prison.
Christopher Smith
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Looking through the window of a shuttered restaurant in Ely.
Christopher Smith
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On Ely's main drag, classic cars -- some abandoned, some for sale -- dot the street.
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Don Allison, an Ely resident, is going for his daily three-mile walk in Ely. "We have a lot of community pride here," says Allison, a counselor at the state prison.
Christopher Smith
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A sleepy Easter Sunday in Ely.
Christopher Smith
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Ely has several community murals that celebrate the town's history and heritage, but even some of the business signs have a striking presence.
Christopher Smith
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Theresa Hamilton moved to Ely two weeks ago from Reno. Her reason: a steady job clerking at a hotel. The second reason: "I really love the peace and quiet," she says.
Christopher Smith
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At the Ward charcoal ovens south of Ely, the beehive-shaped structures burned wood to create charcoal, which in turn was used to smelt ore, fueling the area's mining boom in the late 1800s.
Christopher Smith
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Bill Hally is a semi-tired Ely resident who works part-time at the prison as a technician in charge of the inmate phone system. "Ely is a great place to live," he says. "Everyone knows everyone else. The other side of that, of course, is that everybody knows your business."
Christopher Smith
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The "backyard" of Ruby Mountain Brewing Company President Steve Safford -- fittingly, at the foot of the Ruby Mountains.
Christopher Smith
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Ricky and Delaine Spilsbury of the Ely Shoshone tribe. Native Americans still play an important role in the state's culture and identity.
Christopher Smith
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A view of snowy Golconda Summit in Northern Nevada.
Christopher Smith
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John Arant, owner of The Martin Basque restaurant in Winnemucca. "Solid food and tradition sells," he says of the restaurant whose menu hasn't changed for decades.
Christopher Smith
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A quiet street in Winnemucca.
Christopher Smith
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Fred Lewis, curator and caretaker of the Thunder Mountain Monument in Imlay. The structure created by Frank Van Zant is a sculptural commentary on the treatment of Native Americans at the hands of whites.
Christopher Smith
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Thunder Mountain Monument, created by Frank Van Zant, is rife with images of violence and suffering, a criticism of white settlers' treatment of Native Americans.
Christopher Smith
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A view of the snowy mountains on the way to Gerlach.
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Detail of a sculpture made from bike parts in Gerlach.
Christopher Smith
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Tatsy Guild of Planet X ceramic gallery, Gerlach, NV.
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Planet X pottery gallery, Gerlach, NV
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Driving up to Pyramid Lake, Nixon.
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St. Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church, Virginia City.
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Father Sommer of Virginia City.
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Virginia City.
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Virginia City.
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Amy Smith, a resident of the Virginia City area, works at The Roasting House coffee shop.
Christopher Smith
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C Street in Virginia City, a former mining town that has found a second life as a tourist town.
Christopher Smith
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A "hoop house" on Lattin Farms that helps in growing greens.
Christopher Smith
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"It's important that people know where their food comes from," says Rick Lattin, owner of Lattin Farms in Fallon.
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Lattin Farms in Fallon comprises 400 acres, and "grows everything from apples to zucchini," says owner Rick Lattin.
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Lattin Farms of Fallon grows organic produce and sells it as farmers markets, and also by subscription.
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Don Keele of Lattin Farms in Fallon.
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Sand Mountain Recreation Area attracts both off-roaders and photographers drawn by the dramatic dunes.
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Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park grew out of a major ichthyosaur fossil find in the area in 1928.
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Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park features the fossils of nine of the ancient aquatic reptiles.
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The main tower of the Crescent Dunes solar plant outside Tonopah glows from the intensity of sunlight deflected toward it.
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The Crescent Dunes solar project outside Tonopah produces power by heating molten salt with sunlight.
Christopher Smith