In 1923 a fire gutted most of the lower part of town and destroyed the wooden Hecla.
1924 Hecla being rebuilt
The name of the creek running down the canyon is Canyon Creek (real original) but it was nicknamed Shit Creek. . . can anyone guess why?
This town always make me think of Dennis Rayon’s layout. There is a prototype for everything and this town had “cliff hangers” everywhere.
One of the reasons I want to model this town in particular is because it has such an interesting history that is so intertwined with the railroad. Its hard to find a turn of the century town that had more honest to gosh dependence on a railroad. It literally built around the tracks.
The Tiger Hotel.
Main street. This town was featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” where the claim was made that shop keepers had to roll up their awnings to allow trains to pass. While that was not true in the sense that they needed the clearance, they did do it to prevent the train from lighting them on fire as the story goes.
Enjoying the pictorial history lesson, Devon.
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The other main mining complex in the heart of the town was the Tiger-Poorman. In the beginning they were two separate claims (the Tiger was the first claim in Burke to be staked) that merged into one. One was on one side of the canyon the other on the opposite side. Then they just grew together across the valley.
It was a toss up to model this one or the Hecla.
One of the oldest street scenes of Burke
Another neat couple of prominent features in the town that are on my bucket list are the catholic church and the school. A resemblance of each of these buildings is in the bucket.
More street scenes
This is actually Gem, Idaho. What I call Burke is really Burke and Gem combined. On a Sanborne Fire Map they are delineated as separate towns. Hecla is I believe almost entirely in Gem and but it is about where it makes the break.
I will complete the tour with the other incredible mine and mill in the area the Hercules. If you are on the road tour on google maps as you head North past the Hecla the canyon forks, to the left is Gorge Gulch. Up gorge Gulch was the Hercules.
This was #3 on my list of which mine to model.
You can thank Bob. When someone takes in interest in the turn of the century Silver Valley and especially the happenings of the Railroad or Canyon Creek its kinda like lighting a powder keg. I used to think I hated history. My least favorite subject in school. But once I discovered how rich and interesting my local history was I fell in love.
As the crow flies just North and West of Burke is a town called Murray on Pritchard Creek. This is where gold was found. and for a brief period after the O.K. Corral incident Wyatt Earp found his way there and served as Sheriff of the county I live in Kootenai. https://cdapress.com/news/2018/dec/23/what-did-wyatt-earp-do-after-he-was-deputy-5/
