Robert Martin Stein was seven years old when this photograph of him was taken in 1919 in front of the 365-foot tall brick smokestack near Salida, built for the long-since defunct Ohio and Colorado Smelting and Refining Company.
Robert is wearing his first suit, which happened to be homemade, and is posing in front of “his rock” which he used to leap from as a child. His father helped in the construction of the smokestack, which is still standing in 2012.
We were generously provided a digital copy of the original photo by the Salida Regional Library, and, using Adobe Photoshop editing software, removed some of the old dust marks and added color to the photo, much like the oil-tint processes popular before the advent of color photography. I could only guess at the color of Robert’s suit and hat. I definitely took liberty in rendering the sky as blue. Blue skies over Salida were probably not a common sight when the smelting operation was in full swing.
Before his sudden passing in June, I asked Ed Quillen if he would pen a historical account of the smokestack saga which involved the construction of not one, but three brick stacks, the hope being the tallest stack would stop the poisoning of livestock, flora, fauna, and most everything else downwind of the belching chimneys. In this issue we are pleased to finally print Ed’s last article for Colorado Central Magazine, along with other stories and interesting facts surrounding the smelting plant and the nearby community known as Smeltertown. – Mike Rosso
