P a g e 7 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r THE PAY STREAK THAT WENT OFF INTO THE WALL The Sundown Limited Far beyond the glamor Of the city and its strife, There was once a little quartz mine rich and free, Where an honest-hearted miner Used to lead a happy life, Contented at his work as he could be, He walked the Earth quite proudly, A bonanza king forsooth, For he thought no disappointment could befall, But he left his work one evening, And his sad heart knew the truth, For the pay streak had gone off into the wall. There’s a name that’s never spoken, There’s a miner’s heart that’s broken, For he thought he’d be invited to the Bradley-Martin Ball. There is still a memory living, Of how prospects are deceiving, When the pay streak wanders off into the wall. Now he sits within his cabin, Thinking of the coming years, And wondering what the future has in store, And the demon of despondency Is wailing in his ears, And the hungry wolf is howling at the door. Still his heart is in the mountain, There among the rocky seams, And he sometimes thinks ‘tis gone beyond recall, Where bright with golden spangles, In the rosy realms of dreams, Lies the pay streak that went off into the wall. There’s a name that’s never spoken, There’s a miner’s heart that’s broken, Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz When the pay streak wanders off into the wall. -Author Unknown There’s just another missing from the BradleyMartin Ball. There is still a memory living, Of how prospects are deceiving, Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz A few tidbits remain to remind us of the once popular train. The Georgetown extension of the B.A.&P. railway was constructed in 1912 as a means of bringing the ore from the Southern Cross mines and the timber cut by the Mines Timber company to Anaconda and Butte. The right of way was built under exceptionally hard handicaps, the contour of the country traversed being such that an ordinary grade was impossible. In many places the road follows a grade of two and one-half degrees and there are any number of 16degree curves. Charles A. Lemmon was the chief engineer in charge of construction and what he accomplished was regarded at the time as an engineering feat. While the average fisherman or hunter who traveled over the road regarded the "Sundown Limited" as a means of taking him to his favorite fishing or hunting district, there are any number of strangers who regarded the course of the west valley train as a sight-seeing route. Any number are familiar with that part of the road which parallels the Anaconda-Philipsburg highway, but they know nothing about the grandeur of that portion that curves its way about the wooded pot-hole in the vicinity of old Georgetown station and the Pyrenees mine. - The Butte Miner, July 29, 1925
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