Old west roofs

[JMGraham]

I've been doing some planning to make some Old West buildings, and have come across some wonderful source material.  however, no one seems to take great pictures of the roofs.  Can anyone turn me on to some more information about old West roofing materials and construction?  It seems like many modelers use the ubiquitous shingled roof, and I've found some tar-paper and batten examples.  What else was used in the period?

[Cory]

Having restored quite a few of these places, here is my list

Canvas
Log, log shake - split logs laid out much like shingles, usually two or three feet long.
Shingle - hand cut, irregular and a penny each. Shingles were a sign that the owner meant to stick around.
Tar paper or tarred canvas - usually would have periodic vertical boards or logs to keep it from rolling up.
Tin - Probably useable for 1855-1860 on, absolutely from the 1870's on. Sometimes pressed plates, usually flat rolled tin.
Sod - needs a shallow pitch (3/12 or less is best)
Board and batten - the boards would be 1x10s to 1x20, laid vertically and the edges covedred with something small, a 1x2 or 1x3 usually.
Board - why bother with batten if the pitch is great enough and a few drips won't matter. Barns and industrial buildings usually.
Ornate Steel - cast iron plates, usually about 4' square and cast to look like shingle or tile. Insanely heavy and fragile, and found with the elaborate cast iron fronts. A whole building in a box that could be assembeled in days.
Leather/hide - damaged hides, old teepees, what have you. Hopefully temporary and used like canvas

[Ramirez Noname]

Hi,

I had a quick flick through Geoffery C Ward's "The West An Illustratred History" and found a couple of phots which showed some interesting roof finishes. One shows a house in Westerville, Custer County with a pitched roof with vertical boarding overlaid with turf and also a lapped turf roof. Split cordwood was also used, being laid similar to shingles, but about 4' in length. There was also canvas either in tent form or as a reinforced tent as in Admiral Benbow's post -

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=7443.60

The turf and cordwood roofs seem to be on temporary or quickly constructed buildings; corrugated iron doesn't appear in photos that regularly - probably produced a bit later in the 19th Century.

The old "time Life" books about the wild west are a great source of contemporary phots - not sure if they are available on line though?

Ramirez

PS Cory beat me to it - my hands on experience is only on medieval church building in the UK

[Supercollider]

This page:

http://www.builderbill-diy-help.com/corrugated-tin-roofing.html

Suggests that corrugated roofing could also be used? Apparently invented in the 1820s.

[6milPhil]

Having restored quite a few of these places, here is my list...
SNiP!

Not my period but what a delightfully full and fascinating answer. 

[JMGraham]

Wonderful!  More info than I could have hoped for.  Thanks very much, all!