White Pine

First off, there are no White Pines!

The term, "White Pine" was put to use when the "heavy growth of trees thought to be white pine" were actually limber pine found nestled high in the area's mountains. And it's with mountains we begin. Understanding White Pine is understanding off-beat terrain. Highs and lows and "valleys to mountains" have had more of a deciding factor for human growth here than anywhere else in Nevada. The Snake Range and Wheeler Peak are just a few visual tellers of the geologic history of the Great Basin. The Snakes are thought be to isolated blocks of the Rocky Mountains that house hundreds of Colorado plant species that end their retreat westward here among the range's forested slopes. In ranges like the Snakes or the Schell Creeks, geology has mixed together a giant soup bowl of some pretty sweet and foretelling topography!

​

It's called terrain. Terrain is why Ely (the population center of the region) is located in the shadow of three mountain ranges. Terrain is why copper, not gold or silver, has carried the county's economy for close to a century. Simultaneously there was plenty to persuade the arrival of tough men, cattle men, railroad men, and sportsmen - all who've had a tremendous impact on the terrain. Symbiosis. White Pine's deep defiles hid perennial streams in a land of little rain. These same watercourses allowed the establishment of small camps. The Egans, for example, form a solid barrier where elk, mule deer and mountain lion could find safe haven from the desert floors to the west. Terrain makes prime hunting ground as they did for ancient peoples thousands of years ago. Likewise, terrain equated a formula for the highs-and-lows of White Pine. "Low ground equals safe ground." The formula "safe ground" also meant a safe zone from the extremities of the high country. Instead of butt-kicking canyons and steep mountain passes flat terrain meant avenues for transportation and ideal opportunities for ranching, and ultimately, hanging up the hat. And well, White Pine County is a pretty place in its terrain.

​