Harry Brunk's 30 Year Old Mystery: Another Piece Of The Jigsaw | 6 Comments - Click Here :

    Chris Walker - In the NG&SL Gazette January/February 1989 issue, in Up Clear Creek On The Narrow Gauge Part 54, Harry Brunk wrote:

" Other information is still elusive.  We know that a CONOCO tank car was delivered to Idaho Springs.  My thanks to Art Gibson who provided an interesting photo of CONX 8 unloading there.  My fellow researcher, Jim Coats, continues to search for its exact destination.  Someone at the Idaho Springs convention mentioned that CONX 8 may have been consigned solely for Diesel and gasoline deliveries to the Big 5 Tunnel operation. "

      That CONX 8 tank car picture was posted later in the Nov/Dec'89 NG&SL Gazette issue:

CONX #8 is shown at Idaho Springs in the summer of 1940, apparently draining her load into an underground 

storage tank. Ormand Kelley took this photo with Frank O. Kelley standing in front of the car. This is a rare view 

of this car out of a train in Idaho Springs. Photo, collection of W.A. Gibson Jr.

Harry went on to write in Part 59 of his series,

"For several years, my friend, Jim Coats, has been searching for the spot where CONX #8 unloaded her cargo in Idaho Springs, Colorado.  Jim has access to good sources, but neither the local residents, who were around during the railroad years, or official records have provided an answer."

Harry subsequently wrote,

"Don Meeker, owner of Colorado Scale Models, told me that rail history buff, Bob Stull, has information that CONX #8 may have been contracted to the Big Five Tunnel operation on the western edge of Idaho Springs.  Whether these loads were always Diesel fuel, or sometimes gasoline, this contract would fit with how the car seems to have been operated."

"  When art Gibson sent the title photo by Ormond Kelley, he mentioned that it was the only photo he had ever seen that showed CONX #8 on its siding at Idaho Springs.  The tank car is being unloaded at what seems the western edge of town.  It is highly likely that the load is being dumped into an underground tank, since the structure just visible on the right of the photo is quite distant from the car and is actually on the other side of Clear Creek."

Here is an enlargement of the scenery and the "Structure" in the picture.

    Ever since that Nov/Dec '89 NG&SL Gazette arrived in my mailbox, this intrigued me as I kept thinking that the background at the Big 5 Tunnel siding didn't fit with what I thought I saw on my '82 trip.  Over the years I revisited and came to the conclusion it was just "somewhere else" in Idaho Springs.   Eventually I was to become very good friends with Bob Stull and his wife Lynn but I just plain forgot to revisit this mystery with Bob.

    A decade or so ago, an Antique shop owner friend in California photographed several Postcards she was selling as she knew of my interests and sent them to me.  These were also put away in the "nice to have" file but not relevant to the Mill photos that I sought.  After recently re-reading Harry's excellent articles and delving into this matter, my interest was reawakened...... and thanks to Google Streetview I was able to revisit I.S. from 7400 miles away.

Looking South at about the location of the Big 5 Tunnel Siding....of which I have never seen a photo of yet!

Looking North as close as I can get, just a few yards further West due to an Interstate sound wall.

    Looking hard at the "Structure" I concluded that it wasn't on the other side of Clear Creek but much closer, appearing not to be a large structure like a Mill but more smaller like a Ore chute and the open front also resembled a sloped chute.  Behind the Tank car there was no high canyon walls but a low, pine covered slope with a distant Ridge visible behind, and also a rather pronounced line of rock such as found at a mine waste dump or mill tailings pile that intrigued me....

A quick recheck on the now familiar Chicago Creek Confluence area yielded this picture at the former location 

of the Hudson Mill and the Jackson Mill. There is a Forest Service Building here now, slightly further 

up the creek is the newish I.S. High School built on the site of the Waltham Cyanide Plant.

    That "distant Ridge" seen behind the Handbrake end of CONX 8 is actually almost where the Big 5 Tunnel penetrated the hills separating Clear Creek from Virginia Canyon.   Given that this area would have had remediation work done here the scene is remarkable consistent.

    Enter the filed away Sanborn postcard...  Note visible in this view "around 1940" there now is no Jackson Mill, nor Hudson Mill either and the "new" Mill that adjoined the old Wiley Sampler with an overhead Conveyor shed that spanned the C&S tracks can be made out, just !   The I.S. Depot is still in its original location but as to whether this photo is before or after abandonment I cannot say.

see http://c-sn3-discussion-forum.41377.n7.nabble.com/Idaho-Springs-Mid-Town-Ore-Processing-Part-1-tp2053p2079.html

    "A"  is the Waltham Cyanide Plant,  "B" maybe the "Structure" seen behind CONX #8, and C is the roadbed of
the Big 5 Tunnel tramway that served the Hudson Mill.

    "A"  is the Waltham Cyanide Plant,  "B" maybe the "Structure" seen behind CONX #8, and C is the roadbed of the Big 5 Tunnel tramway that served the Hudson Mill.

    Keep in mind until I posted the following views here http://c-sn3-discussion-forum.41377.n7.nabble.com/Idaho-Springs-Mid-Town-Ore-Processing-Part-3-tp2512.html, proof of the C&S trackage serving the Jackson and Hudson Mills had not yet been brought to light.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/14261/rv/singleitem 

I will leave this to your deliberation as to whether I am correct in my conclusion, or way off base....

Chris Walker

in New Zealand