Re: Speaking of the Arkansas Valley Smelter

Posted by John Greenly on Oct 24, 2017; 2:54am
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Speaking-of-the-Arkansas-Valley-Smelter-tp9823p9834.html

I admire the ambition of the early builders in the far corners of the West.  It's as if a line of false-fronted buildings could make a tiny settlement newly scraped out of the wilderness into a real town.  As evidenced by the photo of Hancock, infamous for its enigmatic caboose undercarriage but quite wonderful for its buildings with false fronts:



I particularly like the one in the middle with a log front topped by that huge sail of a plank false front.  It's like the builder is thumbing his nose at the uncivilized wilderness. Am I seeing it wrong, or is that false front covering up the top half of the upstairs windows?

The other thing that always strikes me about photos like this is the windows.  I wonder, when did these very large panes in the very common, tall 2 over 2 windows become available?  It seems a pretty heroic undertaking to have gotten them to these remote places without breaking them!  Is there a window historian in the group?

John