Johnny wisely invested some of his winnings in his business, improving the building and its furnishings until it was the best looking saloon in town.

The same contractors who built the Horace Means and Gotthelf  houses installed the new front with beautiful plate glass windows and the solid oak floors which were kept polished. The kerosene lamps were replaced with white opal glass globe light fixtures and there was a wonderful music box which played huge records. So the Bon Ton prospered with such notables and renegades at its bar as Frank and Jesse James, Alferd Packer (the cannibal), Marshall Clemmins (the only man to be hanged on a scaffold in Saguache), Otto Mears (the Pathfinder), John Lawrence (Interpreter for the Mexican people), Buckskin Charley, (Interpreter for the Utes), Chief Ouray and wife Chipeta. George Hazard had the contract to put up the ice used by the Bon Ton and later became the richest man in Saguache County making his fortune by hauling beef and potatoes to the mining camps. It was a gathering place for friends and strangers alike, the place where news was repeated and traded, and good luck or misfortune of the whole community was heard Through its doors came and went many of the solid citizens and those who were to make the ranchers and businessmen of the County: Thomas Noland, John McDonough, Isaac Gotthelf, Leopold Mayer, Nathan Russell and many others.

Drucilla and Johnny were married in 1880 and their only son died in infancy, but they raised three daughters and gave them each a fine musical education. Minnie O’Neil Creger, the oldest daughter says, “I have studied music all my life. When I was five years old my father bought me my first piano. It had been brought from England and was made of rosewood with a filigree of open carved rosewood over red felt. I thought it was the most beautiful creation I ever saw. We three girls took music lessons from every teacher that came to town. Mama kept us at the piano constantly. We couldn’t go anywhere or do anything until we had practiced our music lessons. I finished my musical education at Blakely Conservatory in Denver. My final recital was at Trinity Methodist Church where I played a Baldwin piano. I now own a Baldwin but at that time it was my dearest heart’s possession. I’ve always kept up on my music and can still play “Harp at Midnight” which is in five sharps and five flats.

Music has been Minnie’s companion in loneliness or in time of trouble. Consolation, courage and hope has been its message.  One winter morning as I knocked on the door of Minnie’s home I heard music like one would hear at a recital.  When she came to answer my knock, Minnie had on a warm dressing gown over her clothes as the stove had run out of oil during the night and while waiting for oil her beautiful music was keeping her warm. When friends surprised her with a party on her ninetieth birthday she entertained the guests by playing her piano.

Minnie, who was less than five feet tall in her youth, always was a “distinct individual” and said, “I wear my personality with my hat” which was usually large and often a gift from her family. This excerpt taken from her notebook fits Minnie as well as her hat:

“Better to be little and to shine than to be big and cast a shadow”. 

Etta O’Neil Tarbell Bennett has faced tragedy many times in her life. Yet her courage and patience in the face of all these trials is inspiration to all who know her She has truly lived by this rule:

“We cannot change yesterday that is clear, Or begin on tomorrow until it is here, So all that if left for you and me, Is to make today as sweet as can be.”