Duane A. Smith
9 books in the catalogue, published 1967 to 2011.
Duane A. Smith was a historian of Colorado and the mining West, and for decades a professor at Fort Lewis College in Durango. His books cover mining camps, railroads, newspapermen and mountain towns, with a special focus on the San Juan Mountains. Western Reflections Publishing carries nine of his books, from Rocky Mountain Mining Camps in 1967 to Sisters in Sin in 2011.
About Duane A. Smith
According to the finding aid for his papers at the Center of Southwest Studies, Smith was born in Alamosa, Colorado, and earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Colorado Boulder. He joined the Fort Lewis College faculty in 1964. He twice served as interim acting director of the Center of Southwest Studies, in 1986 to 1987 and again from 1995 to 2000, and he was a founder and charter member of the National Mining History Association.
The finding aid lists honors that include the college's Alice Admire Teacher of the Year Award in 1978 and the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities award for outstanding achievement in the humanities in 1989. The Western History Association, which he belonged to for nearly 50 years, reports that he was a Professor Emeritus of History at Fort Lewis College and died on November 26, 2024.
Books
Sisters in Sin - the Nellie Spencer Story
The 2011 biography of Nellie K. Spencer, an early-day prostitute and survivor, followed from childhood to her senior years. It is the latest of Smith's books in our list.
A Visit with the Tomboy Bride
Smith's 2003 companion to Tomboy Bride, Harriet Fish Backus's memoir of a new bride at the Tomboy Mine above Telluride. It runs 144 pages.
The Substance and The Shadow
A photo book of sixty-five images drawn from the Fort Lewis College Center of Southwest Studies archives, with narrative by Smith, showing everyday life in the San Juan Mountains and nearby valleys.
Crested Butte: From Coal Camp to Ski Town
A town biography that follows Crested Butte from coal camp in the Elk Mountains to ski town, asking how coal, the railroad and tourism each reshaped the same few streets.
San Juan Gold
Here Smith frames the letters of mining engineer Eben Olcott, adding historical context so the reader can follow what Olcott saw in the San Juan mines during the 1880s.
The Irrepressible David F. Day
A biography of David F. Day, the Colorado newspaper editor known for his sharp pen, who ran papers in Ouray and Durango and made as many enemies as readers.
Rocky Mountain Mining Camps
Dated 1967, this book looks at the mining camps of the whole Rocky Mountain region, from the gold rush of 1859 to the end of most gold fields in the 1890s, and how camps became cities.
A Brief History of Silverton
A compact history of Silverton that begins with the Spanish and moves through the gold rushes, the founding of the town and its ties to Durango.
Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge: A Quick History
A short history, published in 2002, of the narrow gauge line that connects Durango and Silverton. It explains the engineering the route required and why the railroad mattered to the mining country.
What the books share
Smith's books keep returning to the same ground: the mining frontier of Colorado and the towns it created. Rocky Mountain Mining Camps looks across the whole region, while others narrow to the San Juans, the Silverton railroad, the coal camp that became Crested Butte, and the newspaperman David F. Day. Several grow out of archives, including letters and photographs. The common thread is how money, transport and weather shaped ordinary lives in high country, told in a plain historian's voice.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Good to know
How many Duane A. Smith books does Western Reflections publish?
Where did Duane A. Smith teach?
Is Smith's work mostly about the San Juan Mountains?
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