Meet the late Will Chaussee. On the outside, he was a cedar lumber owner-dealer. On the inside, he was a mountain man, and he owned a sapphire mine between Hamilton and Philipsburg, Montana.

He retired and annually invited me to his place up in the mountains, where we fished, explored a bit and told stories that were mostly true.

He had returned to Bothell on business and looked in on me at the ne...