To people who live in Albuquerque, the Sandia Mountains are often beautiful, covered by shades of pink and rose and magenta at sunrise. The Civilian Conservation Corps built this sprawling camp in Sandia Park during the Great Depression. The CCC played a significant role in bringing people to early Sandia Park and providing livelihoods for people who were already there. The camp was abandoned by 1936 and later used by the Girl Scouts.. (Courtesy of the Museum of Albuquerque)

For some residents, the mountains provide refuge from city traffic and crowds.

For others, those mountains anchor generations of family tradition.

PHOTOS NEEDED What: A call for photographs that might be published in "Towns of the Sandia Mountains" Photo needs: before 1960. Information and photos taken during the Depression. When: Before March 11. Who: Mike Smith, 281-0151, Ext. 41 or through the web site. Special event: Bring photos for Smith to scan from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Tijeras Library, Highway 333. JEWISH PIONEER STUDY While Mike Smith collects history on Sandia Mountain communities, the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society presents results of its four-year study on the role of Jewish pioneers in New Mexico. What: Release of 13 booklets that tell the story of Jewish pioneer families. Volunteers interviewed about 25 second- and third-generation members of pioneering families. When: 2-4 p.m. Sunday. Where: Ronald Gardenswartz Jewish Community Center, 5520 Wyoming Blvd. N.E. For more information: 828-2100. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SANDIAS Circa 1000: Prehistoric communities were formed near the present-day Tijeras Canyon, Car?uel, Paa-ko, San Antonio and Placitas. Circa 1540: Francisco Coronodo de Vazquez's expedition arrived. Circa 1706: Albuquerque was founded by 22 families at the foot of the Sandias. 1908: U.S. Forest Service established the Manzano National Forest, which includes the Sandias. 1938: Route 66 built through Tijeras Canyon. Circa 1970: I-40 built through Tijeras Canyon. Source: Mike Smith, using information from "Field Guide to the Sandia Mountains" by Robert Julyan and Mary Stuever

Mike Smith dove into the mountains' history when he was a curious 11.

Not so long, really, for a 26-year-old man who secured a contract with Arcadia Publishing for his book, "Towns of the Sandia Mountains."

Through a collection of about 200 photographs from the late 1800s to around 1960, Smith hopes his book appears on end tables and in bookshelves wherever he can spawn an interest in the area's rich history.

"This place has a history that's so worth telling," Smith said. "We've got multiple cultures, and they've all got amazing stories."

In his six months on the project, Smith has collected has about 300 photos but not all are of the quality he'd like in the book. He's looking for others before his April 18 deadline and would like to have them before March 11.

Smith, who quit college to focus on writing, makes his living as a freelance editor and at a skatepark called Exerplay in the East Mountains.

"My main goal is to be a writer. So everything else I do is to make ends meet while I'm trying to realize that goal," Smith said.

Denise Tessier, newsletter editor and former co-chairman of the East Mountain Historical Society, looks forward to the scheduled publication of Smith's book later this year.

The Sandias are Albuquerque's natural backyard, Tessier said. Photographs are scattered through homes and museums in the area.

"I'm excited about this book coming out because it hasn't been done before that I know of," Tessier said. "I don't know any place where these pictures can be seen in one place."

When the historical society gets its own location, she'd like to be able to sell the book there.

"It'd be perfect," she said, as a souvenir for tourists and also for history buffs.

The Sandias gave respite even before Albuquerque's Big-I swallowed up acres of land in the middle of town.

Finding that out takes you back into time, Smith said.

"It makes everything so much more real and interesting to me," he said. "It's all kind of connected."

Smith started becoming aware of the connections after his father's work moved the family to Cedar Crest when he was 11.

A naturally curious explorer, Smith spied places that posed questions.

Once, he found an abandoned parking lot with trees growing in it. He discovered its purpose was part of a forest park that was an Air Force retreat with cabins during World War II.

Smith needed history lovers to put this book together.

He began with names of people he knew from living in Tijeras for years. Each gave him someone else to contact. From one talking with one person to another and another, Smith became steeped in area history.

In researching his book, Smith discovered people from the Tijeras area who "are just very proud of their families and have done great jobs of documenting their families."

He found families in San Antonio, N.M., who are related through early settlers on land grant acreage: the Jinzo and Sanchez families.

And he discovered a network of people who know each other through generations of family events such as weddings and funerals.

"I never realized all those families in Tijeras were related, all married to families in Car?uel or San Antonio," Smith said.

He also dredged through information at the Albuquerque Museum and the University of New Mexico.

"UNM's archives have become my new cafe," he said.

Locating and viewing old family photos gave Smith a feeling of belonging to a community. He wants his readers to share the feeling.

"This book has a sense of place and the feeling of time passing, of the lives of individuals becoming something more than a two-dimensional photo where people are trying to recognize the names."

The mountains have not changed - at least not enough to be seen in photographs - with the passing of time. That's helped Smith.

"They are this constant thing you can measure the change against," Smith said. "You've got this great kind of timeless thing behind you."

Mountains don't tell the story, but the photos will, he says.