"Smelter & railroad" - 337

Valley Smelting Works
Circa 1879

This is the best known photograph of the Valley Smelting Works, built east of Golden by Gregory Board & Company in 1879.  Its wooden buildings were constructed by contractor Duncan E. Harrison.  The Valley Works were one of five plants of the famed Smelters Row that helped cement Golden's reputation as an industrial mecca, the "Lowell of the West."  The spectacular financial demise of the Valley Works in 1884 due to the cutthroat competition in the smelting industry led to the suicide of Golden Mayor Francis E. Everett, who lost his bank's money when the smelter went down.  Today nothing remains of the works.