And now for the story...
After a long period of financial solvency, the Estrella Mining Co. had fallen on hard times. Good ore was playing out in the Estrella Mine high on the mountainside above the incline that hauled the ore out, and times were hard. The company was tapped out, like the derelict Ford Model T beside the adobe station at San Lorenzo.
In a desperate gambit to raise revenue, the company president attempted to win a fortune in a high-stakes poker game in Sonora Grande. Unfortunately, the cardsharks he was playing with were better at cheating than he was, and he walked away losing it all.
As the mining company was desperately trying to lower costs, it decided to use Frijolene® as fuel for the mine, to power its boilers. (The story of Frijolene® is described in a previous tall tale of mine.)
Frijolene® was widely used in the area as a replacement for natural gas, but was very unstable and highly explosive. The miners were not pleased to hear they would have it in the closed quarters of the mine, where a spark could end it all!
The company installed a storage tank below the incline to fill small tank cars to haul Frijolene® to the mine high above. Inga, the lovely assistant of the chief mining engineer, presented safety classes on the proper handling of the noxious gas.
Inga was thorough in her presentation, and held the miners attention.
Unfortunately, the miners were't paying any attention to what she was saying...they were distracted by her feminine charms.
Meanwhile, in San Lorenzo, the notorious outlaw Jaime Jimenez - known as 'El Oso Blanco' or 'White Bear', had busted out of the jail and was on the loose again. He had vowed revenge on those who had pursued him, especially the mining company that influenced the county judge to throw the book at him for his numerous crimes. A posse was formed to hunt him down, but he was nowhere to be found.
A few days later, the pre-dawn cool was punctuated by the sounds of crews beginning their day on the railroad. Nothing about the peaceful morning would provide any premonition of the catastrophe that was about to take place high above.
Around 5:30 in the morning, more than an hour before the first shift of miners was due to arrive to work, it happened. A tremendous explosion emanating from the Estrella Mine rocked the entire region. Residents panicked!
The blast destroyed the mine, but fortunately nobody was seriously injured thanks to the early hour. It was powerful enough to be felt in surrounding counties, and to cause minor damage to nearby structures. The A-OK Corral in San Lorenzo was even rocked by the explosion, causing some damage.
Given that San Lorenzo is a sleepy little town, some things were unaffected...Jorge, who sold handcrafted pots by the station, was undisturbed by the entire affair.
An investigation was quickly conducted that identified that sabotage was the cause of the massive explosion, and El Oso Blanco was the chief suspect. The posse rounded him up in a small arroyo several miles from the mine, and took him to the San Lorenzo jail to face justice.
The next day, after a brief trial, he was hanged from a tree beside the jail. His long career of terrorizing the region was finally at an end.
The mining company hoped to resume operations, but miners refused to re-enter the mines. Tales of strange creatures, stirred from their subterranean lair by the massive underground explosion, kept folks away and the mine closed. The E&SG shut down operations permanently, and its equipment was sold to nearby mining operations. Sadly, after more than four decades of profit and prosperity, the little mining company and railroad became history.
My friends, this will be my last story for the E&SG...I will continue finishing some modeling projects and hopefully a few final articles, and then I will be moving on to a new project...modeling the Soledad Branch of the D&RGW in HOn3. The past 8 + years of modeling on On30 have been incredibly fun and rewarding - particularly in the friends made and all I have learned from many of you along the way. I will still hang out and enjoy the fine modeling here! Towards the end of the year, the entire E&SG will be up for sale, including the layout and its trains. Click here for details.
Adios for now! 
