Search the Encyclopedia Mavericana:   ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Stoller, Edie

Miner’s daughter in Echo Springs,[1] Utah Territory[2] in 1870.[1] (February 14, 1853 – February 15, 1928)[2] Daughter of John Stoller.[1]

From about the age of 9, Edie grew up in the mining camp of Echo Springs, where her father, John Stoller, and a few others, discovered silver. The silver strike produced enough to live on, but was not rich enough to create much excitement in further mining in the area and the mining camp did not grow for many years.[2]

Isolated in such a remote area, Edie has had little knowledge of the world outside of Echo Springs except through her father’s and the other miners’ experiences, a few books she had to read, and the stories of occasional passing emigrants traveling along the Mormon Trail through Echo Canyon. As a result, Edie developed a rich imagination of far-away places and the people that inhabit them, where life was romantic and exciting. She dreamed of being able to leave Echo Springs and partake of those other places one day.[2]

One night in 1870, when Edie was 18 years old, she and her father found Bret Maverick, beat up and unconscious, in a ditch outside of Echo Springs. They took him back to their cabin where Edie looked after Bret until he regained his strength.[1]

Edie found Bret to embody so many of the things of which she had dreamed... a handsome man of mystery, leading a life of travel and adventure on his own terms. She doted after him and made her attraction to him quite clear, and hoped that he might take her away with him and marry her.[1]

When Bret was leaving town, she decided there was nothing left in Echo Springs for her. Her father’s mining interests had finally paid off, so he could finally pay her expenses for a good education in Boston. Before leaving town, she was able to say good-bye to Bret and tell him where he could find her, if he was ever in Boston.[2]

See: War of the Silver Kings