Old West Sunset

Look at the buildings first. Several have a tall, flat facade rising square above the roofline, with a plain pitched roof hidden behind it. That is a false front, the standard shape of the Western boomtown.

The reasons were practical. Towns went up fast, out of sawn lumber and not much money, and underneath most stores were simple gable-roofed boxes. A square front made a modest building look like a solid city business, gave the owner a broad flat space to paint his name, and told anyone riding in that the town meant to stay. Builders put the better boards and trim on the street side and saved on the rest.

Almost every town had a livery stable too. It boarded travelers' horses, rented out horses and rigs, and in many places bought and sold stock, which is why so many livery signs promised feed and sale.

Here the sun is low at the far end of the street and the whole town has gone gold. A saddled horse stands at a trough by the hitching rail on the left, men wait on the porch under a hanging sign for liquors, and riders and a wagon come down the rutted road past the general store, toward mountains catching the last of the light.