Salt Lake Tribune gives a description of Green Flake, "the only colored survivor of the band of '47," as a "vigorous, broad-shouldered, good-natured, bright old gentleman."
"The Opening Day of the Jubilee," Salt Lake Tribune, July 20, 1897, 1
One of the most interesting of these old-timers was Green Flake, the only colored survivor of the band of '47. Green is a vigorous, broad-shouldered, good-natured, bright old gentleman, long a resident of Salt Lake county but now living at John Gray's lake, Idaho. He wore glasses, but that is the only sign of old age about him. His voice might do for a trumpet, and he steps off like a West Pointer when he walks.