And yes, mining is stupid :)
Furdle, I just went mining this Weekend in Nevada for about twenty hours in total. It just so happened that at the same time I was there, three western fairs were being held. , that was a tremendously large part of the old west and the entire economy. I'm not asking you to add it because it all of the other RPGs out there have them and we should too, I'm asking you because it is a HUGE part of Early Western Settler's culture. Knowing you come from the U.K, you really shouldn't question this.
I'd love to model for your project but only under the circumstances that you make it actually historically accurate instead of BSing it through with stereotypical gameplay features that are usually involved in Western RPGs.