Gold country narrow gauge. One of the real gems in preservation railroading struts its stuff for the cameras as Sumpter Valley's Mikado #19 makes an eastbound run out of Sumpter, headed for McEwen doing what the line was originally built for....hauling logs.
One Hundred years ago, mining companies came to this land of timber looking for a different sort of treasure...GOLD. For years, they dredged the Powder River, literally destroying the landscape and leaving it in heaping piles of rock...something that would never be permitted today. When the gold was all gone, so were the miners, leaving mother nature to heal her scars. And heal she has. Over the past century, vegetation has grown up and a whole new ecosystem has developed and flourished. On this particular day, a different type of gold adorns the Powder River Valley....the golden fall foliage.....some of the best in years. And the timing could not have been better.
