Smelting Works at Denver, 1892. Thomas Moran (American, 1837-1926). Watercolor and gouache; sheet: 24 x 31.8 cm (9 7/16 x 12 1/2 in.). For today's viewers of Thomas Morans watercolor, the sight of factory smoke pouring into pristine mountain air might prophesy environmental ruin. Yet within the context of Americas western expansion, the imagery of factories was more ambiguous. Some in Moran's time regarded the factories as a force of destruction, while others interpreted them as symbols of progress. Moran himself viewed Denvers budding industry with enthusiasm, writing positively to his wife about the citys growth since he first visited while part of a government survey in 1873. Two decades later, when Moran returned to Denver to paint advertisements for the Santa Fe Railroad, smelting—the extraction of metal from heated rock—had transformed the city into an industrial hub. Although the brooding tone of this watercolor is unlike the artists bright, misty-eyed paintings of Edenic