Here's One of My Own
The Superstition Mountain Railroad
In the late 19th century, a group of gold miners set out to find gold in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. Led by a man called 'The Dutchman', he led them not to a gold mine, but a coal mine. The gold miners were furious at being conned by him and were about to 'dispose' of him (remember: there was no law back then in the West) when he said that there was also a large amount of gold among the coal. To save his life, he showed them a large pouch, filled with gold, which he said came from the mine. The gold miners, seeing dollar signs, immediately formed the Superstition Mountain Gold and Coal Co. Within a few weeks, gold was pouring out of both the mine and the surrounding area. However, they had to use pack mules to carry all the gold and coal down to the town of Apache Junction, Arizona, where the gold was loaded aboard the Apache Railroad and sent to the banks in Phoenix, Arizona. After a few months of mining, the small company finally had enough money in the coffers to build a 30 inch narrow gauge railroad from Apache Junction to the gold/coal mine, named 'Lost Dutchman Coal Mine', after 'The Dutchman', who went 'missing' soon after the company was found. They chose to remove 'Gold' from the name because they had shifted from primarily mining for gold and mining a little for coal to primarily mining for coal and mining a little for gold. The power for the railroad are two 0-4-4T Forneys, along with a fleet of hoppers to haul coal, a combine to haul passengers to and from the mine, a large caboose, and several maintenance-of-way cars. Gold is carried in the baggage section of the combine.
