Ely developing home-grown businesses
By Ken Alltucker and Don Cox
Karen Rajala knows Ely's limitations.
Without an interstate running through town, no major airport in sight and a lack of regular railroad service, she doubts a big company will relocate there.
So here's Rajala's plan: Encourage locals to start their own businesses. She's got money in the form of loan packages and grants for those who want to give it a shot.
"We want to develop home-grown jobs," said Rajala, coordinator for the White Pine County Economic Diversification Council. "We want to capitalize on those people making it here."
In rural Nevada, officials are grasping for ways to overcome the boom-bust cycle in mining towns such as Battle Mountain, Winnemucca and Ely. Critics say more effort should have been put forth in the boom years to cushion the bust these towns are now experiencing.
The mining slump has cut a wide swath of woe through rural Nevada, eliminating 2,700 mining jobs and hundreds more jobs in such support businesses as retail shops, casinos and restaurants. The slump has strained public services, reduced property values and unraveled communities.
"We knew all along that we needed to get away from being dependent on mining," Rajala said. "For attracting industry, we can't fare as well as some larger communities."
The key for these communities is to create primary jobs that pull in money from outside. For instance, Reno's gaming industry attracts dollars from tourists. Casino employees, in turn, buy goods and services that help local shoe stores, pizza places and other support companies stay in business.
Battle Mountain and Winnemucca, both grappling with hundreds of gold-mining job losses, are trying to lure a jewelry manufacturer. Teri Williams, executive director of the Gold Basin Economic Development Authority, figures a jewelry manufacturer would save costs by being close to the gold source.
"We want to get manufacturers of jewelry," said Williams, showing a 65-page list of jewelry makers. "We've got the gold."
Winnemucca residents also hope increased tourism will help offset the lost mining jobs. Plans there include construction of an indoor arena for rodeos and other events.
Rajala said Ely already has helped grow a few successful local businesses.
Murry Springs Bottling Co., which sells bottled water under the brand name Elyon, has found success, Rajala said. Gone Wild, a repair shop that builds custom motorcycles, is another example of a good homegrown business.
Margaret Bath, who owns Economy Drug in Ely, said many in the town are counting on tourism, something Ely and the surrounding area didn't have much of when copper giant Kennecott closed its local operations in the late 1970s, leaving more than 1,000 jobless.
"Ely is in a heck of a lot better shape," said Bath, comparing then to now. "We're not going to roll over and play dead."
Since the Kennecott closure, Ely has made itself a sort of gateway to Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada.
"How do we go about marketing our community?" Ely Mayor Bob Miller asked. "Tourism is one."
Toward that end, Ely is trying to spruce itself up.
Civic leaders have decided that painting giant murals on downtown buildings will attract attention and help bring visitors.
"You will beautify your surroundings," said Karl Schutz, an art consultant from British Columbia.
Schutz put together a similar project in Chemainus, a small Canadian town that faced economic problems similar to Ely's after losing its lumber mill.
"He came up with a plan with murals as an attention-getter," Bath said. "They've used murals as a jumping-off point to keep the community alive."
In Ely, northern Nevada artist Larry Bute isn't waiting for Schutz or anyone else. He's already painting.
"I think Ely has the old Nevada flavor," Bute said, as he finished a set of three 7-by-12 foot murals on a wall of Ely's Hotel Nevada. His work depicts town history.
Bute, who lives on a ranch near Lund, spent three weeks painting a 100-foot long Western scene on another Ely wall. Individual businesses are paying him for his work.
"They've had it tough all the time," Bute said of Ely's boom-and-bust mining history.
"I like the attitude here. You've got people who have been here a long time. This is one of those places you get to like better the longer you're here, instead of the opposite."
Along with painting murals and boosting tourism, longtime Ely residents are figuring out ways to survive on their own. They're used to it.
"Somehow the town goes on," said Sharon Saderup, who works at Economy Drug's 10-stool soda fountain - a local institution for years. "It's places like this. It's a sense of belonging."
In another part of town, Wayne and Debbie Sharp started a used furniture business, The Yard Sale Store, so they could stay in Ely after losing their jobs at a new furniture store.
"It was either that or move," Debbie Sharp said. "I have a 6-year-old boy I don't want to uproot."
Norm Goeringer, who owns the Jailhouse Hotel and Casino and other property in downtown Ely, is optimistic.
"Something always happens. Ely always survives," he said.
Goeringer said tourism is good for his business and other casinos, restaurants and hotels in town, but the town needs more industry and jobs.
Bert Woywood, who owns the Hotel Nevada, Ely's other major hotel-casino, agrees. A second prison would be nice, he said.
"If that were to happen, the economy would be good forever," Woywood said. "Without a prison, Ely really would be a ghost town."
Ely State Prison, now the town's top employer with 350 workers and additional contract employees, is having a difficult time filling 65 open positions for prison guards. Despite the openings, only 25 ex-miners applied for prison jobs.
Warden E.K. McDaniel says one problem is pay. The starting prison guard salary of $28,000 lags behind $43,000 earned by a starting guard at the Clark County Jail in Las Vegas.
Another big problem is jobs for spouses of prison guards. There aren't many.
"Frankly, the city of Ely doesn't have enough people living here who will work here," McDaniel said.
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL