P. David Smith
10 books in the catalogue, published 1986 to 2013.
P. David Smith writes about the history of Colorado's San Juan Mountains: the mining towns, the roads and railroads, the Ute leaders and the animals that carried the freight. Western Reflections Publishing lists ten of his books, published between 1986 and 2013, three of them written with a co-author. They range from short town histories to a 450 page account of the whole range.
About P. David Smith
We have not found a verified biography of P. David Smith, and we won't invent one. What the record shows is a body of work. Our catalogue lists ten books under his name, the earliest dated 1986 and the latest 2013, and three of them carry a second author: Lyn Bezek on the burro book and Cynthia Simmelink Becker on Chipeta and on the Lafayette Head biography. The publisher's old store page credits him on Images of the San Juans Revised, a photograph book from the Ruth and Marvin Gregory collection for which, by its description, he wrote the captions.
Telluride News describes him as a historian and says that perhaps no one knows the Colorado section of U.S. 550 better. The same article credits him with The Road That Silver Built in 2009 and with co-writing The Million Dollar Highway with Marvin Gregory in 1986. Where he lives and where he trained, we could not confirm.
Books
Exploring the Historic San Juan Triangle
A revised and expanded version of his guide Mountain Mysteries, touring the San Juan Mountains by foot, jeep and car, with chapters on Telluride, Silverton, Ouray and Lake City.
A Quick History of Ouray
A short account of Ouray's cycles of boom and bust, dated 1999 in our catalogue, running from the first silver prospectors through the gold years, two wars and the town's turn to tourism in the 1970s.
The Road that Silver Built
A 2009 history of U.S. 550 between Durango and Ouray, built around the toll roads, narrow gauge railroads, lost mines and ghost towns along the Million Dollar Highway.
Ouray, Chief of the Utes
His 1986 biography of the Ute leader Ouray. It sets out the facts of a diplomat's life and leaves readers to decide whether he was a hero or a traitor.
Mountains of Silver
The Red Mountain Mining District between Silverton and Ouray, told through prospectors, speculators, railroad builders and townspeople. Retail listings show an earlier 1994 edition; our catalogue dates this one 2000.
The San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado - Calderas, Mastodons, Conquistadors, and Gold
His longest book, dated 2013, covers the range from its geology and earliest hunters through the Spanish, the Utes and the gold rush.
Chipeta: Queen of the Utes
Written with Cynthia Simmelink Becker, this biography follows Ouray's wife Chipeta, who outlived him by almost half a century and was honored again late in life for her beadwork, her music and her kindness to orphaned Utes.
On the Backs of Burros - Bringing Civilization to Colorado
Written with Lyn Bezek, this 2010 history follows the burro from Africa and Spain to Colorado's prospectors and pack trains, with a share of proceeds going to a donkey rescue.
Images of the San Juans Revised
A photograph book drawn from the Ruth and Marvin Gregory collection, with over 290 photographs. Smith supplied the extended captions that set each image in context, according to the book's description.
The Life and Times of Lafayette Head
Written with Cynthia Simmelink Becker, this biography follows Lafayette Head, an early settler of southern Colorado who became its first lieutenant governor.
What the books share
Smith keeps coming back to the country around Ouray, Silverton and Red Mountain. His subjects include the people who lived there, from the Ute leaders Ouray and Chipeta to the prospectors, promoters and freighters of the silver boom. He is also drawn to the infrastructure of the mountains: the toll roads, the narrow gauge railroads and the Million Dollar Highway. One book steps back to take in the whole range, from the earliest peoples to the Spanish and the Utes, and another follows the burro. Together they study how people moved through very difficult terrain.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Good to know
How many books by P. David Smith are in the catalogue?
What does Smith mostly write about?
Where should a new reader start?
Is there a biography of him?
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