Photo courtesy of the Ozark Folk Center
David Mathews was the first blacksmith apprentice in the Committee of One Hundred for the Ozark Folk Center's apprenticeship program.
This Ozark Folk Center 50th Anniversary Legacy Photo is in honor of David Mathews and
Ozark Folk Center blacksmiths.
A friend of the Ozark Folk Center Craft Village.
David Mathews was part of the first group of Committee of One Hundred funded apprentices. Mathews would go on to found Stone County Ironworks which quickly became one of Stone County's largest employers and he earned the award of Arkansas Small Businessman of the Year along the way. In 1991, Stone County Ironworks was the only Arkansas company to be named to Inc. magazine's list of the country's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies.
Kay Thomas was the first crafts director at the Ozark Folk Center and she has researched the histories of the first crafters at the State Park. The first blacksmiths were Red West and Ross Roper and we are grateful to Kay for capturing these reminiscences that allow us to gaze back through the decades. We also owe a debt of gratitude to West, Roper, and many others who shared their knowledge because now, decades later, Mountain View has become a center for the art of blacksmithing. In addition to the Ozark Folk Center blacksmith who teaches classes, Mountain View is also home to the Arkansas Craft School Forging Studio.
RED WEST
Whitson Silas “Red” West was born in Hardy, Arkansas on October 26, 1909 to Bluford Gilbert “Bert” West (b. 1885, Missouri, d. 1981) and Amanda Frances Sherill (b.1890, Sharp County, Arkansas, d. 1992). Bert and Amanda had six children, one son and five daughters. Red's family moved to Muleshoe, Texas about 1926 but we find Red back in Saint James, Arkansas where he and Ruby Burrow lived after they married December 4, 1935. They raised three sons at Saint James and they are buried there.
Kay reflects,
I remember Red as a tall lanky man who liked talking to people. I can still see him showing
visitors how to work the horseshoe puzzles he was fond of making. I'm assuming he learned
his blacksmithing from his family since that's the way things were done during this era in
rural America. He is gratefully remembered for those early days at the Ozark Folk Center as
he worked in fire, smoke, and summer heat, grinning from under his soot covered cap.
ROSS ROPER
In 1978, Jim Crowell hung around the blacksmith shop and learned from Ross Roper. Jim commented,
Ross Roper was the resident smith then and he was most gracious, patient, and generous
with his time and knowledge. I was intrigued with what Ross could do even to the extent of
welding steel cable into a solid bar. Ross would then hammer these bars into knives leaving
the handle solid and looking like the cable. I was fascinated. Ross taught me to weld and
helped me make a cable knife.
Entries by Kay Thomas and Jim Crowell
The Committee of One Hundred Tribute Wall recognizes contributions to the preservation of Ozark folk culture.
If you would like to help preserve the folk culture of the Ozarks, consider a
The Committee is made up entirely of volunteers so, except for transaction fees, all of your donation funds music, craft, or the herb gardens and, as a 501c3 entity
your donation is tax deductible!
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