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Deer Creek Mine would mine what?

I built this great SWSM kit several years ago. I believe this design was originally done and produced in O Scale by the late Roger Malinowski, a good friend of Brett and several of us on this forum. If I remember the story Roger and Brett traded designs on this one so Brett produced it in HO and Roger did one of Brett's designs in O Scale. Roger's "Stoney Creek Designs" produced many great O scale kits and they always were as good as it gets in the craftsman kits category.

Bill Obenauf did the build thread on the original of this and now it is for sale again and it has been upgraded with a lot of new 3D printed castings. A really terrific kit.

In 2015 Coors2U (Dustin Hedrick) and I did a fun thread- "The Curmudgeon (Mike) and the Punk (Dustin) build the Deer Creek Mine" that lasted several years and is still here on the forum under HO builds.

The issue and question is this. What would this Mine mine? Silver? Gold? Any ore? I know it was not a specific prototype but representative of mines some where. If it was a mine in Colorado what would it most likely have mined? Some of you prototype rivet counters I'm sure will have some opinions.

Comments

  • If you locate Deer Creek in Colorado, the pay dirt you’re looking for is silver. There was some gold (Central City, Aspen), but the large mines were after silver. Some of it was native (pure), but most of it was in ore, chiefly galena (lead). Separating silver from lead is straightforward and much of the smelting was done in Leadville. The silver was pretty much gone in the first decades of century twenty, and most mines shut down (e.g., Silverton, Aspen). Some lived off and on until the early ‘60s, mining lead and zinc (Creede).
  • Thank you- exactly what I was looking for!
  • Great question Mike and great and informative answer, Tom…..Mike’s question is one I’ve wondered about but failed to ever ask
    Terry
  • Great info guys, thanks!
  • Happy to share. Gotta say, Mike, your stuff is just scary good! When your HO work is many times over better than my 1:48, I am impressed and inspired.
  • tomtom said:

    Happy to share. Gotta say, Mike, your stuff is just scary good! When your HO work is many times over better than my 1:48, I am impressed and inspired.

    amen

  • Not sure what the mine would have really been for. When I built my O scale version I claimed they were mining for Pandemonium...whenever they found it all hell broke loose. I saw another guy mining for Unobtainium but never struck a vein.
  • Bryan….it’s too early in the day to be laughing so hard;-))
    Terry
  • i was gonna suggest unobtainium, but bryan beat me to the punch.
  • Yes gentlemen, I appreciate the repartee, but there were others in the Colorado saga, each as inspiring as the other. Consider one Moly B. Denum, the TV show lady Vana Daium, and the nasty villain Your Anium. The latter two mined just west of the uninspiring metropolis of Montrose. The former, a product of the Climax mine near Leadville. I need say no more on that point. Look it up. ;)
  • Colorado mines were a majority gold and silver
  • Well I appreciate tomtom's advice as the mine took a First Place at the Denver NNGC last week. I stated on the entry form that it was a Puriat mine which was a product of my imagination.

    It was gratifying as it was the tenth SWSM kit that I have placed First and/or Best of Show with at national conventions. Five were on one module that was Best of Show at a long ago National Narrow Gauge Convention.

    I always say on the entry form that they are SWSM kits. Many entries that say they are scratchbuilt look very much like Brett's kits. But I guess it's just Rock n' Roll.


  • Congrats Mike...Well Done!
  • Congratulations Mike!!
  • GREAT!! Congratulations Mike!!

    Jerry
  • Colorado mines were a majority gold and silver

  • My issue here is that I am modeling mostly east coast stuff....I'm limited to stuff like coal, copper, and iron ore mining.....
  • edited September 2023
    Well done Mike. Congradulations!!!!!

    I won First Place for my Deer Creek Mine at the National NMRA Convention in Grapevine, Texas for display.
    .
    I won an Honerable Mention Award for Color Print Model

    PXL_20230810_215624028

    SierraWest Kits make for very good photo shoots.

  • I also won First Place for Peoples Choice Award at the convention for this photoPXL_20230809_171641169.PORTRAIT
  • Congratulations Mike. the model was great!
  • Wonderful job guys!
  • Well done Mike and Steve….Ooh Rah
    Terry
  • Great work and well deserved !!! Congratulations.
  • Congratulations!
  • Congrats Mike and Steve, makes me really proud! Both are quality humans and very accomplished modelers.

    Bill Obenauf received First Place in Dioramas with his O Scale Sawmill. I have some really amazing pics to post that Bill provided and hope to have a few minutes this weekend.
  • Thanks everybody for the comments. Very much appreciated. Following the techniques in Brett's manuals is a great learning experience.

    One young and upcoming modeler entered Brett's Engine Service Facility in the display catergory and won a second place for the catergory with his great model.

    On the layout tour, One layout had made an extensive use of SWSM models which were also very nice. One person said on a scale of one to ten, the layout scored a 35.
  • Glad you reminded me Steve about Cole. His Loco and Service Shop was excellent and as Steve mentioned, won 2nd place at the National. Congratulations to Cole!
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