Review by Martha Quillen
History – September 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
A Visit With the Tomboy Bride – Harriet Backus & Her Friends
by Duane A. Smith
Published in 2003 by Western Reflections Publishing
ISBN 1-890437-87-5
THIS ISN’T QUITE A BOOK on its own, but is really an addendum to a prior work: Tomboy Bride by Harriet Backus.
Decades after the fact, Backus wrote a memoir about living at the Tomboy mine above Telluride — and in several other mining communities including Leadville. Then she started writing to Duane Smith, an historian and teacher at Fort Lewis College, after he reviewed her book in 1970. Smith’s book is based upon his correspondence with Backus, and information about the Tomboy Mine and Telluride. He also includes pictures and letters from others who knew Backus.
For those who haven’t read Tomboy Bride, this volume would be nearly non-sensical. And for those who have read it, but long ago — and who don’t have the book in hand — it would no doubt be tedious, because Smith’s book refers to pages, stories, names, and details the casual reader would have forgotten.
But the original Tomboy Bride is a fascinating, engaging tale of a family and an era, which embraces the entire emotional spectrum from love, humor, and enthusiasm to loss, pathos and tragedy.
Harriet and George Backus moved to quarters near the Tomboy Mine in 1906, and there the young bride braved packrats, foul weather, terrifying travel, and thoroughly embarrassing — and on at least one occasion nearly deadly — adventures in learning how to cook. Later they moved to Leadville, where tragedy and problems at the mine plagued them.
The original Tomboy Bride is lively, fun to read, and a worthy Colorado history, with intriguing tales of Colorado mining. The story of Harriet and George Backus and their ups and downs is a classic. And Smith’s book offers extra pictures and information about the setting, the author, and the real-life characters.
If you haven’t read Tomboy Bride, now you can enjoy the book with extra pictures and information collected by Smith. But A Visit With The Tomboy Bride can’t really stand alone.
–Martha Quillen
