“Tomboy Bride” gives a great look into the lives of those who worked in Western gold mines, focusing on domestic aspects. Harriet Fish Backus also shared her first hand accounts of how miners and their families dealt with the extreme altitude and harsh winters at some of these mines. 

If you pardon the pun, there were also some excellent nuggets about stamp mills as well, which was of particular interest to me. 

The tone is fun and the variety of topics covered keeps the reader’s interest hooked on Backus’s words. There are some abrupt transitions after sharing stories of people dying or experiencing horrible accidents, but that was just a part of life in mining camps. 

For anyone interested in that period of American history, this would be a great read.