A Visit With the Tomboy Bride: Harriet Backus & Her Friends

by Duane A. Smith

Harriet Fish Backus provided us with fascinating glimpses into an era long gone in her classic book "Tomboy Bride." In "A Visit With the Tomboy Bride" the well-known Colorado historian Duane Smith gives us a further look into her adventurous life at the Tomboy Mine, high above Telluride, Colorado. Harriet wrote to Duane after he reviewed her book in 1970, starting a correspondence that continued until her death. The result was a potpourri of Harriet Backus' life and those of some of her friends at the Tomboy Mine. Smith's book is an exciting trip into a wonderful vista of times gone by, a story of an amazing woman, and the tale of an adventuresome life above timberline in the rugged San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Duane Smith received his academic degrees from the University of Colorado and completed his Ph.D. in 1964. That year he began to teach at Fort Lewis College where he is a Professor of Southwest Studies. His areas of research and writing include Colorado history, Civil War history, mining history, urban history and baseball history. He is an extremely popular professor at Fort Lewis, and he is the author of over thirty books on a variety of subjects including Rocky Mountain Mining Camps: The Urban Frontier; A Colorado History; Horace Tabor: His Life and the Legend; Silver Saga: The Story of Caribou Colorado; Colorado Mining: A Photographic History; Fortunes Are for the Few: Letters of a Forty-niner; Rocky Mountain Boom Town: A History of Durango; A Land Alone: Colorado’s Western Slope; Song of the Hammer and Drill: The Colorado San Juans, 1860-1914; Mining America: The Industry and the Environment, 1800-1980; Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries; The Birth of Colorado: A Civil War Perspective; and Sacred Trust: The Birth and Development of Fort Lewis College.

Reviews

[Christi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers some interesting correspondence between the author and Harriet Backus who wrote “The Tomboy Bride.” They are an interesting addition to her biography but in no way can compete or substitute for “Tomboy Bride.” The original book is much more interesting and I don’t feel it is enhanced very much by the information provided in this book although there are some interesting pictures in it. If you like Colorado History definitely read “Tomboy Bride” instead.

[Chris Babcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adds more detail and historical perspective to Backus' book "Tomboy Bride". Very worth it if you enjoyed Tomboy Bride.

[Michelle Schulten · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful follow-up to the "Tomboy Bride", by Harriet Fish Backus. Duane seemed to have the wonderful luck of befriending Ms. Backus and getting ing the know of the details of her life that weren't shared in her book. A must read for those that loved her book!