The small town in the middle of the American desert welcomes tens of thousands of visitors every year thanks in part to the cat that lives in the train station.

Dirt Cat is considered an “unofficial employee” at the East Ely Railway Museum of the Nevada Northern Railway station, which houses the oldest steam engines in America.

According to Eric Mencis, head of passenger services at Nevada Northern Railway, Dirt’s mother was a cat that strayed into the building, giving birth to a litter of cubs, including him, 11 years ago. When they are cared for until they are strong enough, they run away from here, and Dirt is too shy to go out.

So the station staff opened a can of tuna and left it out every night. The fish box is always empty the next morning. Dirt cat gradually got used to the station staff so he started walking around, lounging on the dirty floor and staying.

“It’s actually a cat with orange and white fur, but you can’t see that color anymore. It definitely likes to get dirty like that. It doesn’t lick to clean its fur like other cats,” Mr. Eric said.

Dirt Cat grew up and became a tourist attraction. “Living in a house nearly 100 years old, Dirt has its own unique personality. You can look into its eyes and see the soul of an old man with many stories to tell about the railway industry,” Eric confided.

Mr. Eric said the cat often walked around as if it owned the station, observing the trains and staff. He affirmed that Dirt cats are very friendly and adorable when around humans.

“This place operates as a museum, we offer tours of the locomotive storage house and Dirt loves coming out to welcome visitors. Most visitors come here to see it and fall in love with it from the first time they see it,” Eric said.

Thanks to promotion on social networks, the town of Ely in Nevada (USA) now welcomes 30,000 visitors a year and Dirt cats have fans from all over the world. “We know there are people who travel nearly 650 km to come here just to see Dirt,” Eric added.