Arthur Thompson and his crew on top of the Ohio & Colorado Smelter Smokestack

Description

Unidentified workers who built the 365-foot smokestack grin happily as they pose with their boss, assistant superintendent Arthur Thompson, atop the stack November 14, 1917, during a simple topping out ceremony held that day. Thompson placed a silver dollar in the wet mortar of the last few bricks. Town clerk Bertie Roney, the first woman to the top of the stack, was hoisted in the materials bucket. Because she isn’t in any of the photos taken that day and the shadow of a woman’s hat is, Miss Roney was likely the photographer who recorded the event. She exposed four or five negatives that were later given to Arthur Thompson, who passed them to his son, Frank, of Poncha Springs. Frank Thomson Collection.