The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1935-08-08

of the Old West, character In the drama OF
the frontier who Is almost as much myth as
man.
Back In the days when Ned Buntne, Col.
prentiss Ingraham and others Of the bang bang
bang school of literature were turning ont their
flood Of paper-backed dime novels to thrill
Americas youth, one Of their favorite characters
was california joe whom they built up as n
mystery man" But the california Joe" Of
dime novel fame and the Moses Mner-Scout'
who sleeps In the graveyard at Fort Robinson
were and the same man.
Fortunately for his future fame. book which
has recently been published dispels the myths
and legends that haye grown up around his name
and gives what Is evidently the first complete
account of his amazing career. That book Is
'California Joe written by Joe +. Miner, his
grandson, and Earle X. Forrest, and published
by the Caxton Printers, Ltd, of Caldwell, Idaho
1t Is based upon department records and
the personal history of the Miner family and
as such Is valuable contribution to authentic
literature of the frontier
california Joes" full name was Moses En-
bree Miner He was born May s. 1920 near
Stamford, Ky, on the plantation OF his father,
Embree Armstead Miner a veteran Of the War
of 1912, whose father had served In the Revo-
luton. The first Miners in America were two
ulutHeIS VINO tlllEidleu run uThslllTP, DHplHIu,
TO Virginia, In 1888 From that time on mem
bers Of the family Were restless and westward
farng pioneers, a fact which makes the career
of their most famous member california Joe,"
more understandable.
Young Miner grew up In a land where skill
with the long rifle paragraph one, chapter
one, in Its enforcement of the law of survival
of the fittest. So 1t Is not surprising to learn
that at the age OF twelve he killed his first deer
and by the time he was fourteen he was one Of
the best shots In that part OF Kentucky. At
this tender age also the wanderlust seized him
and the Odyssey of California Joe began
"One day In August, lS43, he shoudered his
Kentucky rifle and, telling his parents that he
was going hunting for few days, started out
through the forest That was the last they saw
of their son for five years; and then one day In
1913 he appeared at their new home In Warren
county, Missouri Embree Miner having emigrat-
ed to that state because Kentucky was getting
too thickly populated to suit him and he wanted
q little more elbow room'
In those five years the Kentucky boy grew
into efficient frontier manhood almost overnight
as so many of the youngsters of his time seem TO
have DONE Wandering westward he had reached
St Louis, the first city he had ever seen. At
that time It was the gateway to the Nest and
headquarters of the fur trade. There he joined
a party OF trappers en- route to Independence
where they QUILTED themselves for hunting
and trapping trip up the Platte river The next
spring they went to Fort Laramie to sell their
peltres to the American Fur company, owners
of that post.
At Fort Laramie Miner Joined party of trap
pers headed By the noted Jim Baker, which was
bound for the Yellowstone country. In battle
with Blackfeet Indians the fifteen.year-oId BOY
killed his first Indian-three OF them In fact
One of them he shot through the head Mt dis
lance Of 400 yards, feat which won from Jim
Baker the prediction that There's lad who
will hare great name the frontier some day
II he keeps like he did today" prediction
Baker lived TO see come true