Things are slowly getting back to normal for most of the 1,500 or so denizens of this one-time rail hub at the foot of the Humboldt Mountains, said Gaila Montoya, who remembers a loud concussion and bottles and cups flying as she dived under the counter at Bella's Espresso, where she works the morning shift.

"But we still have aftershocks and you're thinking, 'Oh, my God.' It's kind of nerve-racking is what it is."

Neither the Federal Emergency Management Agency nor the state of Nevada will provide disaster aid for the town 180 miles west of Salt Lake City - the Feb. 21 calamity just wasn't big enough to qualify.

At least one individual property owner, however, was successful in seeking help from the Nevada Homeowners Disaster Assistance Program.

But nobody, save the municipality and school district, had earthquake insurance. There hadn't been a big quake in Wells in memory, and that includes old-timers.

Last week, the Town Council doled out $47,000 in home-repair grants to 21 residents in the first round of grass-roots funding.

With private donations and fundraisers, Wells collected about $240,000 that will help fix many of the 350 single-family dwellings here. Practically all sustained some damage, according to Mayor Rusty Tybo, who's urging all residents impacted by the quake to apply.

But the town's program may not be enough to rescue Jane and Carl Kelso.

The 80-year-old rock house they purchased 11 years ago collapsed during the 7:16 a.m. MST quake. Friends helped demolish it and haul it way. But now the Kelsos are left owing $55,000 on a hole in the ground.

"It's hard to pay a mortgage on a home that's not there," Jane said.

Since the quake, the Kelsos have been renting at Motel 6, where Jane works.

Said Carl: "I lost my house, and none of the government people are helping. We can go to China and help them with their earthquake. But nobody has called us and told us what they're going to do."

The most visible impact of the quake is along historic Front Street, where battered 100-year-old buildings look as though the earthquake struck yesterday.

The destruction of the quaint district is almost too much to bear for Peg Kaplan. She and her late husband, Gene Kaplan, purchased five old buildings in 2004, hoping to restore the area to its heyday.

The pair lived in the historic El Rancho Hotel when the temblor sent furniture flying and the walls started coming in. After the quake, Gene became ill and died in late April from a fast-moving cancer.

Now, Peg ponders the future of El Rancho, the old Mint Saloon, Quilici's Market and the other buildings that capture the old Wells.

"One of the things about Wells is that you can stand on Front Street, and it could be 1890 or 1990," Peg Kaplan said. "I was so sad to see what happened to those buildings."

The damage to Front Street could be irreparable, said Thad Ballard, a local businessman and president of the Wells Chamber of Commerce.

"It took years and years to convince people we had something worth saving," he said. "But a 6.0 knocked us right off."

Still, the quake could signal a new beginning for Front Street, Ballard said. Funding through private and public historic-preservation entities may be available.

And the optimistic chamber president has a plan to save the old facades - if not the buildings themselves - and create a project that would bring City Hall and the post office back to the street that used to be the hopping hub of the area. Ballard hopes it would set the stage for a mixed-use retail district to attract tourists, as well as residents.

One Front Street building did survive the quake quite well.

Matt Holford makes his home in the old Wells Bank, built in 1911 and defined by 18-inch concrete walls. With a $28,800 grant from the Nevada Homeowners Disaster Assistance Program and $5,000 from the Town Council, Holford is patching up cracks and reconnecting water lines.

"We're getting there, a little at a time," he said. "But we have to replace the interior. It's just a big, old rebuild."

Newer buildings held up better, including the 4-Way Casino - Wells' biggest gambling parlor.

The largest hunk of the town's economy is tourism. And business is still way off, according to Elko County Commissioner Mike Nannini, who also manages the 4-Way.

"It sounded like a loud boom and picked up slot machines and threw them on the floor," he recalled of the Feb. 21 temblor. "It threw us for a loop, but we rolled up our sleeves and went to work."

Repairs to the casino came in at about $100,000. Customers have been trickling back, and folks are hoping for a good tourist season, Nannini said. But the price of gasoline is troubling for the town located halfway between Elko and Wendover that depends on motorists.

There is good news.

Wells High School students - who have been crammed into the elementary school - will be back in all their classrooms come fall. The auditorium should be ready, too, although it remains questionable whether the gymnasium will be repaired on time, said Vice Principal Don Fowler.

And the Nevada state high-school rodeo championships and baseball playoffs were in town last week, filling motels and restaurants - and adding a taste of normalcy.

Still, Wells won't be back to its old self for some time to come, the mayor observed.

"It's going to be a long, drawn-out process."

csmart@sltrib.com