John Lewis Dyer – The Snowshoe Pastor
John Lewis Dyer was born in Ohio in 1812. With little education, he moved to Wisconsin to work in the lead mines. After the deaths of his wife and infant daughter, Dyer became a Methodist minister — a circuit rider who traveled from town to town in the Great Lakes Region, delivering sermons and performing baptisms, weddings, and funerals.
In 1861, after a decade of circuit riding around Wisconsin and Minnesota, Dyer trekked to the mountains of Colorado. He soon became known for his snowshoeing and skiing skills that allowed him to reach mining towns that were otherwise inaccessible to Christian clergy during the winters.
And the Colorado mining towns desperately needed Christian clergy since many of the townspeople were prone to drinking, gambling, and fighting in the saloons. Dyer understood the hard lives of the miners and was a fearless minister in the toughest conditions. He set up churches in many towns, including one in Breckenridge that’s still operating today.
Dyer’s life as a circuit rider was hard. To make money, he also carried the U.S. mail whenever he traveled the treacherous winter passes to visit his churches. Dyer became well known for his courage and compassion, affectionately called “The Snowshoe Pastor” in the rough-and-tumble mountain towns of Colorado.
John Lewis Dyer – The Snowshoe Pastor
Randall acts as the lead writer for ColdWater’s Drive Thru History® TV series and Drive Thru History® “Adventures” curriculum.
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