Bertha Muzzy Sinclair(1871-1940)
- Writer
Most fans of popular--and prolific--western novelist B.M. Bower would probably be shocked to find out that the "B.M." stood for "Bertha Muzzie", for B.M. Bower was indeed a woman. Born in Cleveland, MN, in 1871, her family moved to Montana when she was a small child and she grew up there, where she loved to jump on a horse and roam the open ranges, hanging out with real cowboys and absorbing as much western lore and history as she could. She married Clayton J. Bower when she was 19 (she married three times altogether). By 1904 she had published her most famous--and many consider her best--novel, "Chip of the Flying U". It sold very well and was brought to the screen three times--with Tom Mix (Chip of the Flying U (1914)), Hoot Gibson (Chip of the Flying U (1926)) and Johnny Mack Brown (Chip of the Flying U (1939)). She wrote several sequels to "Chip" among her prolific output. She eventually left Montana and moved to Oregon for a while, but then moved to Los Angeles, CA, where she died in 1940.
