In a message dated 97-12-10 01:23:27 EST, you write:

> Other cases of facadectomy have occurred in the little 19th century
>  mining towns up in the Colorado Rockies.  Towns like Black Hawke, Central
>  City, and Crested Butte may have experienced this.  Up there the new
>  panning for gold takes the form of slot machines and roulette tables.

I was in Central City and Black Hawk last May giving a workshop. I didn't see
any strict examples of saving just the front wall, but gambling *has* had a
significant effect on preservation in those towns. (It also generates major
funding for preservation in the rest of the state) There were may examples of
front wall restoration/preservation with the rest of the building renovated
beyond all recognition.

Oh well, at least I made it there before *all* traces of my family's history
there were erased. My grandfather worked in a brewery and my great-grandfather
was a mine engineer there in the 1890s. My dad and his sister were born in a
log cabin up above Black Hawk on Missouri Creek. My dad had panned for gold in
the creek as a kid to get spending money. I had a chance to pan for gold at
the same creek--a near-religious experience, both for the gold I found and the
connection with my dad. I had his original pint-sized leather gold poke along
to keep my nuggets in.

John Leeke, Preservation Consultant