Bucyrus Steam Shovel, Antique Beauty! Options

[CP]

Thought I would post this pic for folks to see, hope you like it as much as I did.

This old Bucyrus Steam Shovel sits on the Lump Gulch Placer, and rumor has it this machine was used to dig on the Panama Canal prior to it's life here in Colorado.

[Denise]

Here is an update i received in an e-mail...

NAHS Board & Friends -

The press release shown below has been sent to approximately 100 print media publishers in Colorado and about a dozen TV and radio stations.

I would like to increase the number of TV and radio stations, so please let me know what you recommend, especially if you have contacts there.

Please copy and paste either the press release or the simplified email invitation below (includes DVD order info, if desired, too) into your own email to distribute to friends and other contacts so you may invite them to the Gala Celebration/Movie Premiere/Silent Auction only 10 days away!

Also, please encourage everyone to invite their friends and neighbors, not only to attend the silent auction (checkbooks in hand) but to seek donations for it...

Serene Karplus
A to Zing Writing Resources
serene@karplus.com
303-545-2126
for:
Nederland Area Historical Society



Movie Premiere
The History Channel
Mega Movers

The Great Bucyrus
Steam Shovel
Gala Preview and Silent Auction
to benefit the
Nederland Area Historical Society

Saturday, May 13, 2006
Doors Open 5:30pm
$10 Includes light refreshments
Gilpin County School
10595 Highway 119
Black Hawk, Colorado
(1.2 miles south of Highway 46 and 3.5 miles north of Black Hawk)

To donate items to the Silent Auction
please contact
Nancy Stubbs 303-258-3939 or nancyst@nednet.net
before May 10

We appreciate your support!

---------------------

Steam Shovel
DVD
Advance Orders

The Nederland Area Historical Society is accepting advance orders
for copies of the DVD by The History Channel Mega Movers
due for release this summer.

DVD's are $24.95 each, plus 8.5% tax and $5 shipping.

Please provide shipping address and order instructions with your check or money order payable to:

Nederland Area Historical Society
P O Box 1252
Nederland CO 80466



-----------------------------



For Immediate Release                                Contact: Daniel Martin
May 3, 2006                                                Phone: 303-258-4779
                                                                  Email: dmartin7000@starband.net

Gala Celebrates History Channel Premiere

Local Steam Shovel - Only One of Its Kind - Attracts National Television Coverage


NEDERLAND, CO (MAY 1, 2006) - The Nederland Area Historical Society honors a new moment for the history books on Saturday, May 13th. A gala celebration and silent auction will launch the premiere of the History Channel's Mega Movers segment documenting the recent move of the Bucyrus Model 50-B Steam Shovel to the Nederland Mining Museum. The event takes place from 5:30pm until 9:00pm at the Gilpin County School, 10595 Highway 119 in Black Hawk, with a requested donation of $10.

The new Mega Movers series on the History Channel scours the country seeking feats of engineering regarding the movement of unusually cumbersome objects. The Bucyrus Steam Shovel weighs 130,000 pounds and is the largest operating track steam shovel in the United States. It was removed from the mire in a mountain gulch and transported over winding mountain roads to its new location at the Nederland Mining Museum last October.

The steam shovel was built in 1923, the largest tracked steam shovel built in the world at that time, using new technology that allowed its crawler tracks to transport it without requiring railroad tracks. This particular shovel served at the building of the Panama Canal and is the only survivor of 25 similar shovels used there. All others were destroyed on site.

The shovel arrived in Denver after some time in California and was brought to Rollinsville's Lump Gulch Placer by Roy and Russell Durand in the early 1950's, where it served the mine until 1978. The shovel was donated to the Nederland Area Historical Society by the current property owners Stephen and Laurel Higgins from a site now designated as the Eye of the Heart Wildlife Refuge.

"This steam shovel will attract history buffs and machinery enthusiasts from all over the country," claims Daniel Martin of the Nederland Area Historical Society and the primary orchestrator of the move. "Nederland will be famous for this single item longer than any event or festival can ever last."

The excitement about the national coverage of the Rollinsville and Nederland area on the popular History Channel will fuel the crowd gathered at the silent auction to benefit the maintenance of the shovel. They will bid on a private airplane ride, a private mine tour, a car, a weekend getaway, original artwork, Lladro figurines, and dozens more items.

The Mega Mover segment will also air on The History Channel on Tuesday, May 16th. Check local listings for times.

For more information, call 303-258-7449. For auction donations, call 303-258-3939.