Being snowed in for two days without power gives one a great deal of time to reflect. Mostly I reflected on the fact that I don’t care much for being snowed in with no power. I hope the worst of the winter weather is behind us. I admire the pioneers who made the journey west to settle in a new land. I do not possess the pioneering spirit. There’s nothing I want badly enough that would prompt me to brave below freezing temperatures and forego a nice, hot pizza. My idea of roughing it is a day without cable. I did spend some time thinking about the brave pioneering women and the role they played in settling the wild frontier. Prior to writing books about women of the Old West, I thought females on the frontier fell into two categories. They were either much like the character of Miss Kitty from the Gunsmoke series or Laura Engel’s from Little House on the Prairie. I was wrong. Indeed, there were the bonneted hard working women who stood at sunset etched in bold relief against the prairie, and there were frolicsome harlots, splendid in lace and fancy goods, able to please for a dollar or love for nothing if the right man came along. However, what did the average pioneer woman do? They gathered dried buffalo chips to make fires with when timber was scarce. They helped plant crops and repair leaks on the sod roofs. They made soap, started libraries, and kept locust at bay. They kept journals and wrote about they journey. They marveled at the scenery and noted in detail the character of their traveling companions. They described what was worn, what was said, and what was accomplished. They rejoiced in births, and mourned the dead. They started churches and schools, hauled clothing to streams to be washed, helped fight off dysentery, typhus, and cholera. Many women found they were masters in crop raising, bone setting, and delivering children. They organized socials, planned weddings, cared for their infants, and prepared three meals a day. By 1890, women worked in 216 of the 300 occupations listed by the Federal Office of Opportunity. If they were widowed, they homesteaded themselves. It would be impossible to list the complete diversity of women’s experience in the West. Suffice it to say, she was tough, stubborn, and could endure anything, particularly the weather – especially the snow. It always snowed and rained on wagons and tents. Rainstorms would travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds, for the opportunity to rain and snow on a wagon or tent. I wouldn’t have liked being a pioneer. I fell asleep at my desk once – that‘s the limit of my pioneering spirit. Think I’ll just spend the day writing about women who had the qualities I clearly lack.
