John Bufvers wrote, in letters to the Alaska Historical Library, that he was born November 8, 1888 in Bohuslan, Sweden. He arrived in the United States in 1910. In July of 1913 he boarded the S.S. Dolphin, disembarking in Juneau “when that city was booming as the world’s largest gold mining center.” After his arrival, he worked in salmon canneries and mines at Yakataga Beach, the Gold Bullion Mine in Willow Creek District, and at Kennecott. After his discharge from the army in 1919, Bufvers worked again at the Kennecott, Gold Bullion and Latouche Copper Mines before going “outside” again. He returned to Alaska in 1931 to work in the Lucky Shot Mine of the Willow Creek District. Close to Christmas of 1931 he went to Ketchikan, where he was employed intermittently by Salt Chuck Mine on Prince of Wales Island. Bufvers was also employed by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, and between jobs, went out prospecting in the hills. John Bufvers said he left Alaska for the last time in September of 1954.