Rocky Mountain Boom Town: A History of Durango

by Duane A. Smith

Book by Smith, Duane A.

Genres: History

215 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1980

About the author

Duane Smith received his academic degrees from the University of Colorado and completed his Ph.D. in 1964. That year he began to teach at Fort Lewis College where he is a Professor of Southwest Studies. His areas of research and writing include Colorado history, Civil War history, mining history, urban history and baseball history. He is an extremely popular professor at Fort Lewis, and he is the author of over thirty books on a variety of subjects including Rocky Mountain Mining Camps: The Urban Frontier; A Colorado History; Horace Tabor: His Life and the Legend; Silver Saga: The Story of Caribou Colorado; Colorado Mining: A Photographic History; Fortunes Are for the Few: Letters of a Forty-niner; Rocky Mountain Boom Town: A History of Durango; A Land Alone: Colorado’s Western Slope; Song of the Hammer and Drill: The Colorado San Juans, 1860-1914; Mining America: The Industry and the Environment, 1800-1980; Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries; The Birth of Colorado: A Civil War Perspective; and Sacred Trust: The Birth and Development of Fort Lewis College.

Reviews

[Rick B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

While a bit too folksy at times, this book hit it on the nose when describing the discourse between opposing sides on a variety of issues (particularly planning and zoning topics and growth) in more modern times. In fact the comparisons between the author's summary of the 1970s and today were rather startling.

Several great quotes to exemplify this:,

"Planning took a back seat to bickering. Tragically, the fate of the future ran last in the race for individualism, emotionalism, and profit."

"Durango, like much of America, had reached a watershed in its political life. For the better part of a decade the community had been rent by divisiveness, bitterness, and a proclivity for treating questions as simple black-and-white issues, agitated by an 'Im right, you're wrong' philosophy. The common reaction had become, 'if the elected officials do not think my way, recall them."

"A self-centered individualism, not the self-reliant individualism of western lore, had snared too many people."

Regardless of the bumps in the road noted above, to visit Durango today, one would be amazed how well the city/region has adapted, matured, and improved since this book was first published. Not to say there aren't still significant challenges, but at least a blueprint for the future has been established. Maybe...the stark criticisms levied in the book woke a few people up? If so, then the book and it's author deserve high praise

[Kylie Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read far too much like a textbook to me. It was generally a compilation of paragraphs summarizing different aspects of Durango's history but then quickly moving on to a quick summary of a different topic. Gives a decent intro to some things Durango history (but also goes into weird depth about things like squabbles between newspaper editors). There are also aspects of reading this ~45 years after publication that make it interesting as well.

[Walt Haas]

Interesting to read the reality of the mining boom days. Very different from the TV version.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Durango has a ski resort and many other things that happen everyday in Durango many places to stay. You can also stay in a house for a wk or even a month if you want. It's a really nice place to live a lot of wild life.