WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.740 Okay, so, I want you to close your eyes for a 00:00:02.740 --> 00:00:04.459 second and just try to picture the scene. All 00:00:04.459 --> 00:00:06.740 right, I am picturing it. It is the dead of winter 00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:10.480 in the Colorado Rockies. We are talking mid -19th 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:14.539 century here, pitch black, midnight, and the 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:17.079 wind is just absolutely screaming. Because you 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:19.079 are standing at 13 ,000 feet above sea level. 00:00:19.219 --> 00:00:21.460 Exactly. Just to set the stakes immediately here, 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:24.199 that is the death zone for casual hikers even 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:27.859 in July. Right, right. In winter. Yeah. At night. 00:00:28.539 --> 00:00:31.230 Without... modern Gore -Tex or rescue beacons, 00:00:31.350 --> 00:00:33.570 that is essentially a death sentence. It really 00:00:33.570 --> 00:00:37.390 is. And in the middle of this screaming blizzard, 00:00:37.549 --> 00:00:40.350 there is a man, and he isn't some young strapping 00:00:40.350 --> 00:00:42.469 mountaineer. He isn't an explorer like Lewis 00:00:42.469 --> 00:00:45.229 or Clark. He is in his 50s, maybe even pushing 00:00:45.229 --> 00:00:48.329 60. He is all alone. And here is the kicker. 00:00:48.429 --> 00:00:52.229 He is strapped to these massive 10 -foot -long 00:00:52.229 --> 00:00:54.950 wooden planks. Which, I should point out, look 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:56.770 absolutely nothing like modern skis. They're 00:00:56.770 --> 00:00:59.070 basically just raw lumber. Right. And he is carrying 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:02.429 this heavy sack of U .S. mail, a Bible, and just 00:01:02.429 --> 00:01:05.090 to make it really high stakes, a bag of gold 00:01:05.090 --> 00:01:07.629 dust. And as we are about to find out, he is 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:10.250 a Methodist preacher. That is the paradox we 00:01:10.250 --> 00:01:13.689 are doing a deep dive into today. We are looking 00:01:13.689 --> 00:01:17.109 at the life of John Lewis Dyer. Often known as 00:01:17.109 --> 00:01:19.989 Father Dyer. the man who started out as an uneducated 00:01:19.989 --> 00:01:22.750 lead miner, became a preacher, and somehow ended 00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:25.430 up as one of the 16 founders of the state of 00:01:25.430 --> 00:01:27.310 Colorado. Which is an incredible trajectory. 00:01:27.909 --> 00:01:30.069 And this is my absolute favorite part of the 00:01:30.069 --> 00:01:32.849 research we pulled, an inductee into the National 00:01:32.849 --> 00:01:35.769 Ski Hall of Fame. Well, it sounds like a tall 00:01:35.769 --> 00:01:37.870 tale, doesn't it? It feels very much like a Paul 00:01:37.870 --> 00:01:40.530 Bunyan or John Henry kind of myth. Totally does. 00:01:40.790 --> 00:01:42.689 But when you dig into the historical archives 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:45.030 and specifically into his own autobiography, 00:01:45.109 --> 00:01:47.890 The Snowshoe Itinerant, you realize this isn't 00:01:47.890 --> 00:01:51.370 a myth at all. It is a very real, very documented 00:01:51.370 --> 00:01:54.010 case study in survival. And that is the exact 00:01:54.010 --> 00:01:56.090 angle I want to take for our deep dive today. 00:01:56.290 --> 00:01:58.730 Because looking at all the sources, Dyer's story 00:01:58.730 --> 00:02:01.269 isn't just about a tough guy surviving the snow. 00:02:01.430 --> 00:02:04.730 No, it is about adaptation. Exactly. It is about 00:02:04.730 --> 00:02:08.389 a guy who took this incredibly weird basket of 00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:11.870 skills led mining preaching and Norwegian skiing 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:15.330 technology, and combine them to solve a problem 00:02:15.330 --> 00:02:17.990 that literally nobody else could solve. That 00:02:17.990 --> 00:02:20.330 is the key phrase for me right there, frontier 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:22.969 adaptation. I mean, if you were rigid in the 00:02:22.969 --> 00:02:25.750 19th century American West, if you tried to live 00:02:25.750 --> 00:02:28.830 exactly like you did back East, you died. You 00:02:28.830 --> 00:02:31.389 just didn't make it. Right. Dyer was the opposite 00:02:31.389 --> 00:02:33.750 of rigid. He was fluid. He used whatever was 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:35.919 available to him. So let's rewind the tape a 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:38.819 bit. Before he is the snowshoe itinerant, before 00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:41.699 the legend, who was he? Because he didn't just 00:02:41.699 --> 00:02:43.740 come out of the womb with 10 -foot skis on. He 00:02:43.740 --> 00:02:45.520 certainly did not. And he didn't come out with 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:47.639 a silver spoon either. Not at all. He was born 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:50.099 in 1812 in Ohio, and he grew up in Illinois. 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.199 And the sources are very emphatic about his lack 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.680 of formal education. He wasn't a scholar. No, 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:57.400 he wasn't sitting in a library reading Latin 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:59.580 theology. He was a laborer. He was working with 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:02.259 his hands from day one. Exactly. And this detail 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:06.129 is crucial. By 1833, he marries Harriet Foster, 00:03:06.210 --> 00:03:08.389 and they move to Wisconsin. But they don't move 00:03:08.389 --> 00:03:11.110 there to farm the land. No, they move there so 00:03:11.110 --> 00:03:13.449 he can work in the lead mines. Okay. We really 00:03:13.449 --> 00:03:15.550 need to pause on the phrase lead mining in the 00:03:15.550 --> 00:03:18.569 1830s, because I feel like that sounds bad to 00:03:18.569 --> 00:03:22.009 modern ears, but the reality was probably horrific. 00:03:22.229 --> 00:03:25.729 It was grueling beyond belief. I mean, you have 00:03:25.729 --> 00:03:28.490 to imagine being underground. breathing in rock 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:32.229 dust and actual lead particulates all day. Just 00:03:32.229 --> 00:03:36.030 destroying your lungs. Hauling heavy ore by hand. 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:39.289 It is dark, it is damp, and it is incredibly 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:41.930 dangerous. It is physically shattering work. 00:03:42.169 --> 00:03:44.449 So why does this matter so much for his later 00:03:44.449 --> 00:03:47.129 life as a preacher? Because those seem like two 00:03:47.129 --> 00:03:49.210 completely different worlds. Because it hardened 00:03:49.210 --> 00:03:52.020 him. And I don't just mean his muscles, although 00:03:52.020 --> 00:03:54.800 it certainly gave him incredible physical stamina. 00:03:54.900 --> 00:03:57.479 Right. It gave him a cultural fluency with rough 00:03:57.479 --> 00:04:00.259 men. Later on, when he walks into a frontier 00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:02.939 mining camp in the Rockies, he isn't some prissy 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:05.180 cleric from the city who has never seen a callus. 00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:07.620 He is miners hands. He knows what it's like to 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:10.219 be exhausted, dirty, and desperate for a drink. 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:13.039 That turns out to be his superpower. He could 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:15.000 speak their language because he had literally 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.060 lived their life. Precisely. But the shift from 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:19.860 a lead miner to a preacher... That usually comes 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:22.779 from a moment of crisis. Yes. And for Dyer, looking 00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:25.899 at the timeline, it was tragic. It was heartbreaking. 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:28.899 His wife, Harriet, died very young. She was only 00:04:28.899 --> 00:04:32.579 35. Which is just awful. And then in a blow that 00:04:32.579 --> 00:04:35.639 just feels uniquely cruel, their infant daughter 00:04:35.639 --> 00:04:39.060 died soon after. So he is left with five kids, 00:04:39.220 --> 00:04:41.699 he is grieving, and he is basically alone in 00:04:41.699 --> 00:04:43.959 the world. That is the catalyst. In the wake 00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:46.980 of that devastation, he pivots. He decides to 00:04:46.980 --> 00:04:49.579 join the Methodist ministry. But again, context 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:51.399 is everything here. He doesn't get assigned to 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:53.879 a nice warm church with a steeple in Boston. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:55.920 No, he becomes a circuit rider. I have always 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:57.540 loved that term, circuit rider. It sounds like 00:04:57.540 --> 00:04:59.879 an action movie. But for those listening who 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:02.540 might not know the history, what exactly was 00:05:02.540 --> 00:05:04.779 the job description there? It was essentially 00:05:04.779 --> 00:05:07.529 the gig economy of religion. The frontier was 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:10.569 moving west way faster than actual institutions 00:05:10.569 --> 00:05:12.730 could be built. Towns were just popping up overnight. 00:05:13.050 --> 00:05:15.089 Right. But there were no churches, no schools, 00:05:15.250 --> 00:05:18.430 no courthouses. So the circuit riders were mobile 00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:21.810 infrastructure. They rode a giant loop, a circuit 00:05:21.810 --> 00:05:24.069 covering hundreds of miles. So they were constantly 00:05:24.069 --> 00:05:26.769 on the move. Constantly. They would ride into 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:29.149 a settlement, marry the couples who were waiting. 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.819 baptize the babies, bury the dead, preach a sermon, 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:35.180 sleep on a dirt floor somewhere, and then ride 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:37.360 on to the next town the very next morning. And 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.899 Dyer's circuit wasn't exactly a tropical vacation 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:43.319 spot. We are talking Wisconsin and Minnesota. 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:46.759 The upper Midwest in deep winter. And this is 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:48.779 the moment, this is the insight that changes 00:05:48.779 --> 00:05:51.600 everything for him, where luck meets preparation. 00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:54.540 Yes, the Minnesota connection. While he is serving 00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:57.339 a circuit in Minnesota dealing with impassable 00:05:57.339 --> 00:06:00.660 roads and deep snow drifts, he encounters Norwegian 00:06:00.660 --> 00:06:04.920 immigrants. The Norwegians. The undisputed masters 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:07.160 of winter. Exactly. And they introduce him to 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:09.480 something he had never seen before. Now, in the 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:11.699 historical documents, they often call them snowshoes. 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:14.000 Right. The terminology is a bit tricky there. 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:16.319 Let's be clear for the listener. These are not 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:18.279 the tennis racket things you strap to your boots 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:21.610 to walk on top of the snow. In the 1850s, snowshoe 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:23.949 was kind of a catch -all term, but he was actually 00:06:23.949 --> 00:06:27.850 looking at skis. He was looking at gliders, long 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:31.290 wooden planks, and specifically the Norwegian 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:34.410 style that Dyer adopted involved skis that were 00:06:34.410 --> 00:06:36.870 nine to ten feet long. Ten feet? I mean, I ski 00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:39.389 on 170s, which are like five and a half feet. 00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:42.709 Ten feet is a lumberyard strapped to your boots. 00:06:42.889 --> 00:06:46.319 It is massive. and heavy. You didn't have fancy 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:48.120 release bindings. You just strapped your boots 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:50.279 in with leather thongs. And didn't they use just 00:06:50.279 --> 00:06:53.420 one pole? Interestingly, yes. You usually carried 00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:56.439 a single long pole, not two. It was used for 00:06:56.439 --> 00:06:58.899 balance, pushing, and braking. So he learns this 00:06:58.899 --> 00:07:01.319 totally obscure skill in Minnesota just to get 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:03.540 from parish to parish. It seems like a minor 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:05.899 detail at the time. Just a localized travel hack, 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:07.779 a way to get the job done. Right. But he files 00:07:07.779 --> 00:07:10.100 it away in his mental toolkit. Fast forward to 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:14.360 1859. Dyer is closing in on 50 years old. In 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.139 the mid -19th century, that is astonishingly 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:20.139 old to be starting a brand new, dangerous adventure. 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:22.240 Most guys his age are dead, or at least sitting 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:24.379 on a porch whittling. But he gets Pike's peak 00:07:24.379 --> 00:07:27.160 fever. He wanted to see the mountains. It is 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:29.639 that simple human curiosity we talk about so 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.480 often on this deep dive. He writes that he had 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:35.600 a lifelong desire to see the snowy peaks. So 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:37.879 he heads to Colorado. And when he gets there, 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:40.279 he isn't landing in Denver as we know it today. 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:44.339 He heads straight for the chaos. Lake County, 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:47.319 Summit County, Park County. The really high country. 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:50.839 The rough country. These were mining camps. Tents, 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:54.259 mud, whiskey, violence, and a lot of desperation. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.730 There was no law, really. and certainly no churches. 00:07:58.069 --> 00:07:59.750 This is where that lead mining background we 00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:01.930 talked about earlier really pays off. I was reading 00:08:01.930 --> 00:08:03.870 the sources about his preaching style, and it 00:08:03.870 --> 00:08:06.490 is fascinating. He didn't wait for a building 00:08:06.490 --> 00:08:09.050 to be constructed. No, he was incredibly pragmatic. 00:08:09.290 --> 00:08:11.290 He preached on street corners. He preached in 00:08:11.290 --> 00:08:14.029 tents. But the most famous detail, and the one 00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:16.649 that really cements his legend, is that he preached 00:08:16.649 --> 00:08:19.300 in saloons. Just imagine that scene for a second. 00:08:19.459 --> 00:08:21.759 You have got a room full of minors, probably 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:24.279 armed, definitely drunk, gambling away their 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.339 week's earnings at a card table. And in walks 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:28.480 Father Dyer. And the bartender stops pouring, 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:32.120 the card games pause, and Dyer preaches. Which 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:34.500 begs the question, why didn't they kick him out? 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:37.879 Or shoot him? Right. Because he respected them. 00:08:38.259 --> 00:08:40.419 He didn't come in wagging a finger, condemning 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:43.120 them for drinking or gambling. He understood 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.340 why they drank. Because he had been there. He 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:48.740 knew the bitter cold, the ache in the joints 00:08:48.740 --> 00:08:51.539 from swinging a pickaxe all day, the profound 00:08:51.539 --> 00:08:55.100 loneliness. He had empathy. He met them where 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:58.019 they were, literally and metaphorically. There 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:00.840 is a really specific detail in the notes about 00:09:00.840 --> 00:09:02.940 the offering plate that I think captures this 00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:05.860 environment perfectly. The gold dust. Yeah, these 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:07.639 guys didn't have cash. There were no banks out 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:10.700 there. Right. So after the sermon, they would 00:09:10.700 --> 00:09:14.179 pass the hat. And the miners would open their 00:09:14.179 --> 00:09:17.220 little leather pouches, their pokes, and pinch 00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:19.600 out gold dust. And Dyer mentions in his book 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:21.980 that he had to get really good at reading the 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:24.299 dust. He had to know the quality and the value 00:09:24.299 --> 00:09:26.620 just by looking at the grain and the color of 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:28.940 it. He is literally funding the church with the 00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:31.100 raw resources of the frontier. But even with 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:32.860 the gold dust, the ministry wasn't paying the 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:35.620 bills, was it? Not nearly enough to feed a family 00:09:35.620 --> 00:09:38.539 or sustain himself. The circuit was incredibly 00:09:38.539 --> 00:09:42.200 poor. So Dyer needed a side hustle. The hustle 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:46.080 never sleeps, even in 1860. Exactly. And this 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:48.320 brings us to the most legendary part of his resume. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:51.879 He takes a contract with the U .S. mail. Specifically, 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:54.940 the route between the mining camps of Alma and 00:09:54.940 --> 00:09:57.259 Leadville. Now, for anyone listening who has 00:09:57.259 --> 00:10:00.399 been to Colorado looking at a map, Alma to Leadville 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.519 doesn't look that far. They are right next door 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:05.419 to each other. As the crow flies, sure. But there 00:10:05.419 --> 00:10:08.600 is a massive wall of rock in the way, the Mosquito 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:11.899 Range. And take the mail across, Dyer had to 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:16.159 cross Mosquito Pass. Elevation 13 ,188 feet. 00:10:16.259 --> 00:10:18.139 It is one of the highest passes in North America. 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:20.700 The wind up there can strip the paint off a car. 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:23.720 In winter, the snow drifts can be 20 feet deep. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:26.639 The geography acts like a funnel for blizzards. 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:30.000 And he takes the job at age 64. He was in his 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.500 late 50s and early 60s during the peak of this, 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:35.059 yes. He agrees to carry the mail sack, which 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:38.120 weighed about 25 to 30 pounds, plus gold shipments 00:10:38.120 --> 00:10:40.360 for the miners who trusted him, plus his Bible. 00:10:40.509 --> 00:10:43.350 This is where the Minnesota travel hack stops 00:10:43.350 --> 00:10:46.309 being a neat trick and becomes a vital survival 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:49.169 system. He breaks out the 10 -foot Norwegian 00:10:49.169 --> 00:10:52.590 skis. He makes them himself out of spruce, usually, 00:10:52.669 --> 00:10:56.090 and he develops a strategy that is honestly terrifying 00:10:56.090 --> 00:10:58.850 to even think about. The night travel. Yes. He 00:10:58.850 --> 00:11:01.169 realized that during the day, the high -altitude 00:11:01.169 --> 00:11:04.620 sun softens the snow. Even with 10 -foot skis, 00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:06.759 you would sink into the slush. Which is exhausting. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.100 Exhausting, wet, and incredibly dangerous because 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:13.720 wet snow slides. It causes avalanches. So he 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:15.580 just flips his schedule. He becomes a creature 00:11:15.580 --> 00:11:17.960 of the night. He travels at night. completely 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:21.200 alone. That is just chilling. Literally and figuratively. 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:23.460 The temperature drops drastically and the snow 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:26.659 freezes into this hard icy crust. The skis can 00:11:26.659 --> 00:11:28.659 glide right over the top of it. It's much faster. 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:31.419 But you are skiing Mosquito Pass in the dark 00:11:31.419 --> 00:11:34.220 with a 30 -pound pack on primitive wooden planks. 00:11:34.299 --> 00:11:36.700 If he falls? If he breaks a leg, he freezes to 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:38.740 death. If he slides off the trail, he falls into 00:11:38.740 --> 00:11:41.820 a ravine. There is no GPS, no rescue helicopter, 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:44.759 no cell signal. He is completely, utterly on 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:47.419 his own. Did he ever write about the fear? I 00:11:47.419 --> 00:11:50.000 mean, surely he was terrified sometimes. He talks 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.620 about the white death. He talks about the roaring 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:55.500 of the wind sounding like actual demons. Oh. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:58.720 There is one story where he gets caught in a 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:00.679 blizzard so thick he cannot see his own hand 00:12:00.679 --> 00:12:03.240 in front of his face. He has to keep moving to 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:05.779 stay warm, but he has no idea where he is going. 00:12:05.940 --> 00:12:08.559 What did he do? He just kept shuffling. Faith 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:12.080 and instinct. He writes about trusting that God 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.720 and his legs. would get him to the other side. 00:12:14.820 --> 00:12:17.320 And the wildlife. He mentions encountering wild 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:20.159 animals, too. Mountain lions were a very real 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:22.200 threat up there, but he just kept moving. It 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.799 is incredible stamina. I mean, we talk about 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:27.120 Ironman athletes today. This guy was doing an 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:29.720 Ironman every week just to deliver letters and 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:31.799 sermons. And getting paid an absolute pittance 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:34.860 for it. But that suffering earned him something 00:12:34.860 --> 00:12:37.659 far more valuable than money. It earned him the 00:12:37.659 --> 00:12:40.129 title father. I really wanted to ask about that. 00:12:40.190 --> 00:12:42.669 He is a Methodist. Methodists don't use the title 00:12:42.669 --> 00:12:45.309 Father. That is a Catholic or Anglican terminology. 00:12:45.909 --> 00:12:48.809 Exactly. Methodists are usually reverend or pastor. 00:12:49.250 --> 00:12:51.730 The fact that the miners who are from all over 00:12:51.730 --> 00:12:54.129 the world, many of them Catholic, many of them 00:12:54.129 --> 00:12:57.649 nothing at all, called him Father Dyer is huge. 00:12:57.750 --> 00:12:59.850 It wasn't a theological title at all. No, it 00:12:59.850 --> 00:13:02.210 was a tribal one. He was the patriarch of the 00:13:02.210 --> 00:13:03.870 camp. He's the guy who brought you news from 00:13:03.870 --> 00:13:06.409 home, who carried your gold safely, who held 00:13:06.409 --> 00:13:08.740 your hand when you were dying of pneumonia. and 00:13:08.740 --> 00:13:12.279 who risked his own life to do it. That totally 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:15.580 transcends any denomination. He belonged to them 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:17.960 and they belonged to him. He didn't just survive 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.340 the camps though. We have to talk about the church 00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:22.620 in Breckenridge because he actually started building 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:25.419 civilization. It is a great example of his DIY 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:28.700 attitude. He buys a lot on French Street in Breckenridge. 00:13:29.139 --> 00:13:31.460 He doesn't hire a contractor, he builds the chapel 00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:35.500 himself. Hand -hewn logs. Mostly, yes. And we 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:37.700 had the specific details from the sources. It 00:13:37.700 --> 00:13:41.740 was 50 by 25 feet with 16 foot ceilings. That 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:44.620 is a solid permanent structure. He holds the 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:48.500 first service there in August of 1880. He is 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:50.879 68 years old at this point. Most people are really 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.600 slowing down by then. And that service... is 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.299 historically significant. It marks the first 00:13:56.299 --> 00:13:58.960 service held in a proper religious building on 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.059 the western slope of Colorado. He was planting 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:03.460 a flag. He was planting the flag of permanence 00:14:03.460 --> 00:14:06.659 in a transient world. He was saying, we aren't 00:14:06.659 --> 00:14:08.879 just camping here anymore. We are living here. 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.519 You would think at 68, after building a church 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.460 and skiing over mountain passes, he would settle 00:14:13.460 --> 00:14:16.470 down. But the timeline here is wild. He gets 00:14:16.470 --> 00:14:19.450 married again. He does. To a widow named Lucinda 00:14:19.450 --> 00:14:23.230 Rankin in 1870. And they stay incredibly active. 00:14:23.830 --> 00:14:26.230 In his 70s, they moved to Denver. And this is 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:28.289 where his legacy shifts from a local mountain 00:14:28.289 --> 00:14:31.309 legend to a true state icon. The State Senate 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:35.389 gets involved. In 1885, The Colorado Senate appoints 00:14:35.389 --> 00:14:38.230 John Lewis Dyer as its very first chaplain. Just 00:14:38.230 --> 00:14:40.370 think about that arc for a second. He starts 00:14:40.370 --> 00:14:43.129 in the toxicity of the lead mines, preaches in 00:14:43.129 --> 00:14:45.649 saloons filled with smoke and whiskey, skis through 00:14:45.649 --> 00:14:48.110 blizzards completely alone, and ends up praying 00:14:48.110 --> 00:14:50.889 over the Senate floor. It is a complete integration 00:14:50.889 --> 00:14:53.309 of the rough frontier experience into the official 00:14:53.309 --> 00:14:55.389 polished history of the state. He wasn't just 00:14:55.389 --> 00:14:57.669 a guy who lived there. He was one of the actual 00:14:57.669 --> 00:15:00.190 architects of the culture. And that is literal, 00:15:00.409 --> 00:15:02.289 right? He is considered a founder. One of the 00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:05.149 16 founders of the state of Colorado. That is 00:15:05.149 --> 00:15:07.429 the official list. Incredible. If you go to the 00:15:07.429 --> 00:15:09.529 state capital in Denver today, look up at the 00:15:09.529 --> 00:15:13.230 dome. There are stained glass portraits of the 00:15:13.230 --> 00:15:16.610 founders. Dyer is up there. Immortalized in glass. 00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:19.470 And immortalized in geography, too. There is 00:15:19.470 --> 00:15:22.169 a Father Dyer Peak in the Ten Mile Range. There 00:15:22.169 --> 00:15:25.379 is a ghost town called Dyersville. There is a 00:15:25.379 --> 00:15:28.379 Father Dyer campground near Turquoise Lake. His 00:15:28.379 --> 00:15:30.679 name is written onto the land itself. But the 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:32.700 accolade that really makes me smile, and I think 00:15:32.700 --> 00:15:35.559 the one that fits our deep dive theme of surprising 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:38.320 facts, the absolute best, is what happened in 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:41.539 1977. The Hall of Fame. The Colorado Ski and 00:15:41.539 --> 00:15:44.120 Snowboarding Museum Hall of Fame. It is brilliant. 00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:46.480 You walk into that Hall of Fame and you see Olympic 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.139 downhill racers, X Games gold medalists, industry 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:53.059 titans, the guys who invented modern bindings, 00:15:53.159 --> 00:15:55.519 and a 19th century Methodist preacher standing 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:57.440 right alongside them. Does he deserve to be there 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:01.019 though, honestly? 100%. Look, he wasn't doing 00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:03.679 tricks in a half -pipe, but he demonstrated the 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:06.279 sheer utility of skis in the Rockies before anyone 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:08.980 else. He proved you could conquer the winter 00:16:08.980 --> 00:16:11.320 terrain. He showed that the snow wasn't a barrier? 00:16:11.549 --> 00:16:13.549 It was a highway, as long as you had the right 00:16:13.549 --> 00:16:15.529 tools and the guts to use them. There is even 00:16:15.529 --> 00:16:18.629 a race named after him now. The Father Dyer Postal 00:16:18.629 --> 00:16:22.009 Race. It is a ski mountaineering race in North 00:16:22.009 --> 00:16:24.330 America. Yeah. Which is fitting because it is 00:16:24.330 --> 00:16:26.590 grueling. If you were going to honor Dyer, it 00:16:26.590 --> 00:16:28.309 has to hurt a little bit. It has to be high, 00:16:28.409 --> 00:16:31.720 cold, and difficult. Exactly. Sadly, Father Dyer 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:35.659 did eventually pass away in 1901 at the age of 00:16:35.659 --> 00:16:39.740 89, which frankly is a remarkably ripe old age 00:16:39.740 --> 00:16:42.460 for a guy who spent his entire life doing wildly 00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:45.240 dangerous things. It is a testament to his toughness. 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:47.799 So let's zoom out for a second. We have covered 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:50.799 the mines, the tragedy, the skis, the mail route, 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.919 the legacy. When you step back and look at the 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:56.019 whole picture of John Lewis Dyer from all these 00:16:56.019 --> 00:16:59.080 sources, what is the core takeaway for you? For 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:02.440 me, it comes back to that idea of applied knowledge. 00:17:03.379 --> 00:17:06.140 Dyer's life was a collection of seemingly random 00:17:06.140 --> 00:17:09.500 disconnected experiences. Lead mining. A profound 00:17:09.500 --> 00:17:13.440 personal tragedy. A random encounter with Norwegians 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.000 in Minnesota. There are pieces that just don't 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.259 seem to fit together at all, like a jigsaw puzzle 00:17:18.259 --> 00:17:20.420 from three completely different boxes. Right. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.839 But when he faced the ultimate challenge mosquito 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:25.819 pass, the need to connect with rough miners, 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:29.240 the need to survive the brutal winters, he didn't 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:32.119 try to force a standard textbook solution. He 00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:34.519 reached into his past. He reached into his past 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:36.920 and pulled out the specific tools he needed. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:40.019 He combined the toughness of the minor with the 00:17:40.019 --> 00:17:42.460 tech of the Norwegians and the deep faith of 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:44.559 the preacher. He didn't compartmentalize his 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.480 life. He didn't say, well, skiing is just something 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:48.299 I did in Minnesota. It doesn't apply out here 00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:51.420 in Colorado. Exactly. He used all of it. And 00:17:51.420 --> 00:17:53.539 I think that is why he survived when so many 00:17:53.539 --> 00:17:55.200 others just packed it in and went back east. 00:17:55.640 --> 00:17:58.440 He was adaptable. He let his past inform his 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:00.700 present survival. It really challenges the way 00:18:00.700 --> 00:18:03.099 we think about our own useless skills, doesn't 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:05.559 it? It really does. Because we all have those 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:07.500 random things we learned years ago. We all have 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:11.140 a weird job we had for six months, a hobby we 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:14.160 dropped, a random fact we picked up, a language 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:17.319 we studied for one semester in college. And we 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:20.200 tend to think of them as wasted time. But Dyer 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:22.619 proves that nothing is wasted if you can just 00:18:22.619 --> 00:18:24.700 find the right application for it. So here's 00:18:24.700 --> 00:18:27.440 the thought I want to leave you with today. John 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:29.980 Lewis Dyer took a skill he learned from immigrants 00:18:29.980 --> 00:18:32.700 in Minnesota skiing and he used it to conquer 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:35.640 the Rocky Mountains when absolutely nothing else 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:37.839 worked. He had the solution strapped to his feet 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:39.319 before he even knew what the problem was going 00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:42.079 to be. The 10 -foot ski. The 10 -foot ski. So 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.609 what is your 10 -foot ski? What unique background 00:18:45.609 --> 00:18:49.470 experience or random skill or seemingly useless 00:18:49.470 --> 00:18:51.910 bit of knowledge do you possess right now that 00:18:51.910 --> 00:18:54.990 might actually be the key to overcoming the massive 00:18:54.990 --> 00:18:57.069 mountain standing in front of you? You might 00:18:57.069 --> 00:18:58.930 be far more prepared than you think. You just 00:18:58.930 --> 00:19:01.109 have to be willing to put the skis on. That is 00:19:01.109 --> 00:19:04.009 a great place to end. That's it for this deep 00:19:04.009 --> 00:19:06.609 dive into the snowshoe itinerant. Thanks for 00:19:06.609 --> 00:19:08.630 listening and we will see you on the next one.