Tom,
To the best of my recollection Ackley had about 3 or 4 other gunsmiths in his shop at the time. There was one or two regular gunsmiths and one or two young apprentises. I don't know if I would call him the "high end" of metalworking at the time. He was a very competant gunsmith and master machinest, but ran a "nuts and bolts" gunsmith shop. Built working guns for the locals and worked on their shotguns and handguns. Parker became well known and famous because he was a bit of an academic, good in metalluragy and interior ballistics, and had an inquiring mind. The main difference between him and many of his contemporaries was that he was a good writer and took the time to write up all the things he worked on and publish it, and he enjoyed teaching. He started up the School of Gunsmithing at Trinidad, Colo, and after he left there his shop always had one or two young "trainees" in it. He also had great people skills and within the limits of running a business would usually take time to answer a young guys questions or show him something in the shop.
