Tomboy Bride: A Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West (The Pruett Series) - Backus, Harriet Fish Review & Synopsis

Synopsis Harriet Backus writes about her life as an assayer's wife and true pioneer of the West with heart-felt emotion and vivid detail. Sharing her amusing and often challenging experiences as a new bride in the high San Juan Mountains where the Tomboy Mine operated above Telluride, Colorado, she paints a poignant picture of the people, and the life centered around silver mining where most of the book takes place. It is a skillfully written account from a women's perspective in a rough and tumble mining town that has made this book a classic for women's studies. Harriet's life followed her husband George's career which took them many places beyond the San Juan Mountains including the rugged coast of British Columbia, and the mountainous mining town of Elk City, Idaho and back to Colorado's Leadville. Although both Hattie and George were from the San Francisco bay area where they eventually retired, her heart never quite left the rugged mountain trails of the high San Juans of Colorado. Review "I've often had a fantasy that one day, while cleaning out the barn or digging in the garden, I might uncover a diary or a pack of letters, some written message left from the past that neither time nor weather nor pack rats have carried away. Then I would learn what life was like for the woman who lived on this land a hundred years before me, a woman who was the wife of a rancher or a miner, somebody who believed a good life and untold riches were to be found in this valley tucked under the Continental Divide. Discovering Tomboy Bride was like finding that diary." Pam Houston, from the foreword Harriet Fish grew up in the San Francisco bay area, and taught school until the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 closed the schools. She then worked for the Telegraph Company for two years. Her sweetheart of high school days, George Backus, a graduate of the University of California School of Mines, found work as an assayer in Telluride, Colorado. Against her family's wishes, she traveled to Denver since her fiancee could not return to California for the wedding. Hattie, as she was called remained happily at her husband's side his entire life although she was fearlessly independent and strong on her own. While George was introverted and competent, Hattie Fish Backus overshadowed him as an extroverted, smart, controlling, opinionated and very devoted wife. She wrote Tomboy Bride in the early 1940s, but it was repeatedly rejected by publishers. Being independent and ahead of her time, she self-published the book. In 1977, Pruett Publishing of Boulder, Colorado took over publication, and over 75,000 copies of the book have been sold since that time. Tomboy Bride, 50th Anniversary Edition A Colorado favorite, Tomboy Bride presents the first-hand account of a young pioneer woman and her life in a rough and tumble mining town of the Old West. In 1906 at the age of twenty, Harriet Fish hopped on a train from Oakland, California, to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in search of a new life as the bride of assayer George Backus. Together, the couple ventured forth to discover mining town life at the turn of the twentieth century, adjusting to dizzying elevation heights of 11,500 feet and all the hardships that come with it: limited water, rationed food supplies, lack of medical care, difficulty in travel, avalanches, and many more. As she and George move from Telluride’s Tomboy Mine to the rugged coast of British Columbia, to the town of Elk City, Idaho, and then back to Colorado’s Leadville, Harriet paints a poignant picture of a world centered around mining, sharing amusing and often challenging experiences as a woman of the era. With a new foreword by award-winning author Pam Houston, this 50th anniversary edition also includes previously unpublished black and white photographs documenting Harriet's journey. Tomboy Bride endures as a classic of the region to this day as it captures in heart-felt emotion and vivid detail the personal account of Harriet Backus, a true pioneer of the West. One Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West Harriet Fish Backus. PRAISE FOR Tomboy Bride “It's hard to describe just how much of a legacy Harriet Backus left with Tomboy Bride and her vivid and descriptive memories ..." A Visit with the Tomboy Bride 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. 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." Tomboys Starting with the figure of the bold, boisterous girl in the mid-19th century and ending with the “girl power” movement of the 1990’s, Tomboys is the first full-length critical study of this gender-bending code of female conduct. Michelle Abate uncovers the origins, charts the trajectory, and traces the literary and cultural transformations that the concept of “tomboy” has undergone in the United States. Abate focuses on literature including Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Carson McCullers's The Member of the Wedding and films such as Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon and Jon Avnet's Fried Green Tomatoes. She also draws onlesser-known texts like E.D.E.N. Southworth's once wildly popular 1859 novel The Hidden Hand, Cold War lesbian pulp fiction, and New Queer Cinema from the 1990s. Tomboys also explores the gender and sexual dynamics of tomboyism, and offers intriguing discussions of race and ethnicity's role in the construction of the enduring cultural archetype. Abate’s insightful analysis provides useful, thought-provoking connections between different literary works and eras. The result demystifies this cultural phenomenon and challenges readers to consider tomboys in a whole new light. In books like Mary Lou Rich's The Tomboy (1996) or Leanna Wilson's His Tomboy Bride (1998), authors did not simply fold a tomboyish character into their steamy stories of boy-meets- girl love, they made her the centerpiece." Colorado Women Colorado Women is the first full-length chronicle of the lives, roles, and contributions of women in Colorado from prehistory through the modern day. A national leader in women's rights, Colorado was one of the first states to approve suffrage and the first to elect a woman to its legislature. Nevertheless, only a small fraction of the literature on Colorado history is devoted to women and, of those, most focus on well-known individuals. The experiences of Colorado women differed greatly across economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Marital status, religious affiliation, and sexual orientation colored their worlds and others' perceptions and expectations of them. Each chapter addresses the everyday lives of women in a certain period, placing them in historical context, and is followed by vignettes on women's organizations and notable individuals of the time. Native American, Hispanic, African American, Asian and Anglo women's stories hail from across the state--from the Eastern Plains to the Front Range to the Western Slope--and in their telling a more complete history of Colorado emerges. Colorado Women makes a significant contribution to the discussion of women's presence in Colorado that will be of interest to historians, students, and the general reader interested in Colorado, women's and western history. Tomboy Bride: A Woman's Personal Account ofLife in Mining Camps of the West. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing, 2001. Baker, Roger. Clara: An Ex-Slave in Gold Rush Colorado. Central City, CO: Black Hawk Publishing, 2003." The Sociology of Disaster In a book as illuminating as it is captivating, Thomas E. Drabek presents an in-depth analysis of the emotional impacts of disaster events and the many ripple effects that follow. Through the technique of storytelling, a series of nine fictional stories where characters experience actual disasters of different types throughout the United States illustrate the vulnerabilities and resilience to enhance the readers understanding of disaster consequences. Designed for classroom use, each story is followed by an "Analysis" section wherein discussion and research paper topics are recommended. These highlight links to published research findings. A "References" section details citations for all works included. Brief commentary in a "Notes" section adds further connections to other disasters and relevant research studies. The Sociology of Disaster is an important innovation in disaster education and will become an invaluable resource within universities and colleges that offer degrees in emergency management at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Tomboy Bride: A Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing. Brock, James. 1995. The Sunshine Mine Disaster: A Book of Poetry. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press." A Colorado History, 10th Edition Experience Colorado with this new, enlarged edition of A COLORADO HISTORY. For fifty years, the authors of this preeminent resource have led readers on an extraordinary exploration of how the state has changed—and how it has stayed the same. From the arrival of Paleo-Indians in the Mesa Verde region to the fast pace of the twenty-first century, A COLORADO HISTORY covers the political, economic, cultural, and environmental issues, along with the fascinating events and characters, that have shaped this dynamic state. In print for fifty years, this distinctive examination of the Centennial State is a must-read for history buffs, students, researchers—or anyone—interested in the remarkable place called Colorado. Harriet Fish Backus writes about life in Telluride during the early years of the twentieth century in Tomboy Bride: A Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West (1969; reprint, with a foreword by Pam Houston and an ..." Beyond Nature's Housekeepers This book highlights the unique and complex role women have played in the shaping of the American environment from pre-Columbian Native Americans to present day environmental justice activists. Tomboy Bride: A Woman's Personal Account ofLife in Mining Camps ofthe West. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett, 1969. Bailes, Kendall E., ed. Environmental History: Critical Issues in Comparative Perspective. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, ..." Colorado and the Silver Crash: The Panic of 1893 A catastrophic depression engulfed Colorado in 1893. The government's decision to adopt the gold standard and stop buying silver hit the mining industry like a cave-in. Unemployment reached 90 percent in Leadville, a city built on silver. Strikes by union miners in Cripple Creek and Leadville led to destruction and death. Political parties split along battle lines of gold versus silver. By 1898, the country had begun to recover, but silver mining was never the same. Using firsthand commentary and more than one hundred historic photographs, John Steinle skillfully commemorates the story of Coloradans trapped in the unprecedented social, economic and political conflict of America's first great depression. Tomboy Bride: A Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West. Foreword by Pam Houston, afterword by Robert G. Walton. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing, 1977. Blair, Edward. Leadville, Colorado's Magic City." Explorer's Guide Colorado's Classic Mountain Towns: A Great Destination: Aspen, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, Telluride, Vail & Winter Park Colorado's spectacular ski towns—like Aspen, Vail, Telluride, and Crested Butte—offer far more than just skiing: they offer some of the best hiking, mountain biking, fishing, shopping, dining, and lodging in the world, and all year round to boot. Author Evelyn Spence, a former editor at Skiing magazine and avid outdoorswoman, has turned the state's classic mountain towns upside down to find quirky annual festivals, superb Rocky Mountain cuisine, historic B&Bs, trout-filled streams, powder-choked runs, Manhattan-worthy shopping, and jaw-dropping drives, and combine them in this unique travel guide. Whether you want to sleep under the stars or inside a toasty wilderness lodge, this guide will help you plan the ultimate Colorado mountain experience. Tomboy Bride: A Woman's PersonalAccount ofLife in Mining Camps ofthe West. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Co., 2000. Hayes, Mary Eshbaugh. The Story ofAspen: The History ofAspen as Told Through the Stories of Its People." The Unlikely Wife The arrival of Michael Bowen's bride, married sight unseen by proxy, sends the rancher reeling. With her trousers, cowboy hat and rifle, she looks like a female outlaw—not the genteel lady he corresponded with for months. He's been hoodwinked into marriage with the wrong woman! Selina Farleigh Bowen loved Michael's letters, even if she couldn't read them herself. A friend read them to her, and wrote her replies—but apparently that "friend" left things out, like Michael's dream of a wife who was nothing like her. Selina won't change who she is, not even for the man she loves. Yet time might show Michael the true value of his unlikely wife. Selina won't change who she is, not even for the man she loves. Yet time might show Michael the true value of his unlikely wife." Daily Life in the American West Daily Life in the American West details the lives of American Indians, miners, cowboys, immigrants, and settlers who, together, populated the unique region that is the American West. Tomboy Bride: A Woman's Personal Account of Life in the Mining Camps of the West. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Co., 1969. Bates, Katharine Lee. America the Beautiful and Other Poems. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., ..." Wife On His Doorstep JUNE BRIDES HIS MEANT-TO-BE BRIDE When doe-eyed, all gowned-up-and-no-groom-in-sight Megan Morison sought refuge in his arms, bachelor John Vermont offered her a roof over her head, a job to pay the bills and his rugged shoulder to lean on…. HER DESTINED GROOM Megan had had her fill of people trying to run her life, but with strong, silent, steely-eyed John Vermont, she felt truly safe, accepted…and dare she believed loved? But John claimed that marriage wasn't for him, though his longing looks and heated kisses suggested otherwise. And now Megan wished this gorgeous albeit gruff ship captain would take the gift destiny offered and make her his lawfully wedded wife…. Celebrate a month of joyful marriages with Silhouette Romance! Up-and-comer Robin Nicholas delivers a touching BUNDLES OF JOY titled Man, Wife and little Wonder. ... And in Leanna Wilson's latest Romance, His Tomboy Bride , Nick Latham was supposed to “give away” childhood friend and bride -to-be ..." Man, Wife And Little Wonder JUNE BRIDES Bundles of Joy Sometimes small packages can lead to the biggest surprises! THE BAD BOY Johnny Tremont had once worn rebellion and recklessness as ruggedly as his black leather jacket. But now he was father figure to his young, needy niece, and he was determined to do right by her, no matter what it took. THE BRIDE What it took was the hand of a childhood friend Grace Marie Green. Marriage to this pert, upstanding beautician would guarantee him custody of her namesake, Gracie, and would give his little girl the perfect maternal role model…for a little while. THE BUNDLE OF JOY But Johnny hadn't realized what an amazing effect a desirable wife and a darling little wonder could have on a man like him…. Celebrate a month of joyful marriages with Silhouette Romance! Up-and-comer Robin Nicholas delivers a touching BUNDLES OF JOY titled Man, Wife and Little Wonder. ... And in Leanna Wilson's latest Romance, His Tomboy Bride , Nick Latham was supposed to “give away” childhood friend and bride -to-be ..." Sweet Bride Of Revenge VIRGIN BRIDES Celebrate the joys of first love with unforgettable stories by your most beloved authors. MARRIAGE OF REVENGE The rich and powerful Braet family had been the cause of his misfortune. But he had risen above the obstacles of his birth to become one of the world's most successful and sought-after men. Yet lavish homes and great wealth were not enough. He craved revenge…. Seducing the lovely Nora Braet would be his ultimate challenge. His plan was to shamelessly lure the Braets' virginal daughter into his bed…and then walk away. But one taste of the sweet Nora soon tipped the balance of passion, and the hunter found he had become the hunted in a desperate battle of forbidden love…. Up-and-comer Robin Nicholas delivers a touching BUNDLES OF JOY titled Man, Wife and Little Wonder. ... And in Leanna Wilson's latest Romance, His Tomboy Bride , Nick Latham was supposed to “give away” childhood friend and bride -to-be ..." Gilded Mountain In the early 1900s, Sylvie Pelletier leaves her family's Colorado mountain cabin to start work at a wealthy mine-owner's manor house and is fascinated by he luxury around her until she discovers the family's philosophy is at odds with the unfair labor practices that built their fortune. ... by Ellen Elliott Jack; I Await the Devil's Coming, by Mary MacLane; The Life of an Ordinary Woman , by Anne Ellis, Cripple Creek Days, by Mabel Barbee Lee; Tomboy Bride , by Harriet Fish Backus; A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, ..." The Women's West Uses selections from diaries, public records, letters, interviews, and fiction to describe the experiences of women in the West, including Indians, servants, waitresses, prostitutes, and farmers 82 ; Anne Ellis , The Life of an Ordinary Woman ( Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press , 1980 ) , pp . 81 , 102-103 ; Angelo , Sketches of Travel , p . 143 ; Harriet Fish Backus , Tomboy Bride ( Boulder , Colo ." Flint Hills Bride 10TH ANNIVERSARY She'd Been The Tomboy Heiress And He, The Hired Hand Now things were a little different. He was Jake Rawlings, dedicated lawman, and she was Emily Prescott, woman on the run. But all Jake wanted was to get her to trust him enough to run straight into his waiting arms. Emily had never been denied anything by her family, until now. And if the man they were trying to keep her away from was the man she really wanted to marry, how come Jake was looking better all the time? 10TH ANNIVERSARY She'd Been The Tomboy Heiress And He, The Hired Hand Now things were a little different." GhostWest Our sense of place is permeated by ghosts from the past. In GhostWest, Ann Ronald takes the reader to historical sites where something once happened. Using the metaphor of hauntings, she reflects on how western history, literature, and lore continue to shape our visceral impressions of these sites. In chapters both lyrical and thoughtful, passionate and humorous, GhostWest covers sites in seventeen western states, including the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana, Willa Cather’s Nebraska prairies, and the Murrah Building bombing site in Oklahoma. Through these settings and their phantoms, the author mulls questions of why we find such ambience and artifacts so compelling. Volume 7 in the Literature of the American West series I've especially read a lot of women's recollections . Few are expressed with the joie de vivre of Tomboy Bride . Though she often admits her fears , she as readily projects curiosity about her surround- ings and enthusiasm for new ..." Doris Day Confidential Doris Day was a major star during the 1950s and 60s. Even now, many years after her final film and years since her last regular television appearances, the star's name retains currency: she is often invoked as shorthand for a kind of sexuality now felt outmoded, with virginity firmly maintained until marriage. Although this assumption is widespread, close attention to the facts of Day's own life challenges it, and the majority of her film roles also prove otherwise, with Day most frequently portraying a woman of maturely sexual desires. Redressing a surprisingly meagre body of work on Doris Day, this book investigates why the rigid view of Day's maintained virginity should have arisen and become so fixed to the star, even now. Taking a twofold approach, Tamar Jeffers McDonald both closely examines Day's film roles and performances and explores material from other popular media for the source of the virgin myth. Day featured continuously in public discourse, and media stories were often devoted to her personal life: it was widely known that she had been married three times and had a son. Why then did the pejorative label, 'the-forty-year-old virgin', arise, and why has it stuck so tenaciously to Day until today? Investigating a range of sources in order to discover why this maturely sexual star has become indelibly associated with maintained virginity, Doris Day Confidential analyses in detail Day's characters and performances across her career. By focusing on contemporary popular culture contexts, using newspaper stories, articles from film, fan and lifestyle magazines, reviews and gossip, it charts the developments in Day's screen 'persona', highlighting the changing public perception of the star of Calamity Jane, Love Me Or Leave Me and Pillow Talk, as aided and abetted by the media. The first, often associated with the idea that the star, though an attractive woman , is a ' tomboy ', starts as soon as Day's name becomes ... by wooden ladders and 'the tomboy bride ' at once clambers up to explore (Anon, 1951 c: 18)." The Bride Wore Spurs The Cowgirl Takes a Husband! To keep the Texas ranch she loves, Hannah Parrish will wed a man she doesn't. Cowpokes won't take orders from a young, single female. But while her exasperating neighbor Matt Walker jokes about her being a mere debutante, Hannah is a rancher to the core. Just like Matt. "Will you marry me?" It's a question widowed Matt never intended to ask again. Now spirited Hannah is asking him for a marriage of convenience! Yet whether she's birthing a calf or caring for a young orphan, the tomboy next door is becoming the partner Matt always hoped for. Now he must convince her the greatest strength comes in trusting your heart to another—and your future to God.… The Cowgirl Takes a Husband!" Pioneer Voices John Paybody was born in England ca. 1590. He married Isabel (surname and parents not listed). John died in Bridgewater, Mass. in 1667. They were the parents of 4 children, of which, the second son, Francis is the progenitor of this Colorado Peabody line. Francis (born 1614 in England, died 19 Feb, 1699 in Topsfield, Mass.) married (2) Mary Foster in 1649. They were the parents of 14 children. The second child Isaac is the sixth great-grandfather of the author Cynthia Peabody Anderson. Cynthia's great-grandfather Edwin James Peabody, born 9 May 1848 in East Pitcairn, New York, married Almeda Smith, born 19 May 1854 in Lincoln, Ohio. They were pioneers to Breckenridge, Colorado, where Edwin died 7 Jan 1918 and Almeda died 17 Dec 1933. They were the parents of 5 children. This history is largely about the Peabody family in the Breckenridge area. The Women's West . Norman , Oklahoma : The University of Oklahoma Press , 1987 . Backus , Harriet Fish . Tomboy Bride , A woman's personal account of life in mining camps of the West . Boulder : Pruett Publishing Company , 1969 ." Our Boston Presents a collection of essays celebrating the city of Boston by such writers as Leslie Epstein, Dennis Lahane, Robert Pinsky, John Updike, and Madeleine Blais. ... she formed her own, producing and recording three albums ( Tomboy Bride , Apt #6S, and Shotgun). ... She was the first woman sportscaster to carry the Olympic torch, the only woman to handle a Super Bowl trophy pre- sentation, ..." Who's The Father Of Jenny's Baby? (Mills & Boon Vintage Cherish) JUNE BRIDES Mother & Child Up-and-comer Robin Nicholas delivers a touching BUNDLES OF JOY titled Man, Wife and Little Wonder. ... And in Leanna Wilson's latest Romance, His Tomboy Bride , Nick Latham was supposed to “give away” childhood friend and bride -to-be ..." Rosie and the Wedding Day Rescue Tomboy Rosie is less than thrilled to be a flower girl; she would rather play detective. When the wedding she's in starts to fall apart, she and her new flower girl friends team up to save it. Tomboy Rosie is less than thrilled to be a flower girl; she would rather play detective." West Telluride : A Novel by Susan Clark Schofield and Tomboy Bride : A Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West by Harriet Fish Backus ( not seen , available in libraries ) , both set in Telluride , are probably ..." Pacific Homosexualities If one tomboy sees a girl she likes, she tries to introduce herself, and begins to visit her. ... The status of the future benedict was exposed when the parents of the would-be bride learned about the matter through a friend." Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons From board games to beauty pageants, a smart, witty, pop-culture history of the perilous path to achieving the feminine ideal. Deluged by persuasive advertisements and meticulous (though often misguided) advice experts, women from the 1940s to the 1970s were coaxed to "think pink" when they thought of what it meant to be a woman. Attaining feminine perfection meant conforming to a mythical standard, one that would come wrapped in an adorable pink package, if those cunning marketers were to be believed. With wise humor and a savvy eye for curious, absurd, and at times wildly funny period artifacts, Lynn Peril gathers here the memorabilia of the era —from kitschy board games and lunch boxes to outdated advice books and health pamphlets—and reminds us how media messages have long endeavored to shape women's behavior and self-image, with varying degrees of success. Vividly illustrated with photographs of vintage paraphernalia, this entertaining social history revisits the nostalgic past, but only to offer a refreshing message to women who lived through those years as well as those who are coming of age now. The film ends happily ever after, with a shot of a lipsticked bride followed immediately by a shot of a lipsticked ... “[F]or perhaps the first time in your active, tomboy life, you must accept that you are a girl ”: For most girls, ..." Treasure Creek Dad Single father Jake Rodgers's daughter isn't happy about moving to tiny Treasure Creek, Alaska. So the former big-city businessman trades his suits for hiking boots and he books a father-daughter wilderness tour to acclimate her. But Veronica isn't buying it. Perhaps guide Casey Donner is just the person to help the girl appreciate the Klondike state's natural beauty. But could tomboy Casey, in her ponytail and cargo pants, also be what this city boy needs for a lifetime of love? Single father Jake Rodgers's daughter isn't happy about moving to tiny Treasure Creek, Alaska." Community and Autonomy in Southern Oman This book explores how there is latitude for people to make their own choices and how the chances to assert independence change over time in a Muslim, Arab, tribal culture. The book first gives a brief overview of day-to-day life in the Dhofar region of southern Oman, then focuses on how the traits of self-control and self-respect are linked in the everyday actions of several groups of tribes who speak Gibali (Jibbali, also known as Shari/Śḥeret), a non-written, Modern South Arabian language. Although no work can express the totality of a culture, this text describes how Gibalis are constantly shifting between preserving autonomy and signaling membership in family, tribal, and national communities. The work reflects observations and conclusions from over ten years of research into the history and culture of the Dhofar region along with longstanding, deep involvement with both men and women in the Gibali community. At some wedding parties, women will wear sheer, net sheilas and body-hugging, short dresses, but usually only if they ... somewhat like a tomboy but usually the girl / woman is teenager or in her 20s (see Al-Qasimi 2012; Le Renard 2014, ..."