Covered Wagon Women

by Holmes, Kenneth L.

• ISBN13: 9780803273009
• ISBN10: 0803273002
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

The stories seem simplethey left, they traveled, they settledyet the restless westering impulse of Americans created one of the most enduring figures in our frontier pantheon: the hardy pioneer persevering against all odds. Undeterred by storms, ruthless bandits, towering mountains, and raging epidemics, the women in these volumes suggest why the pioneer represented the highest ideals and aspirations of a young nation. In this concluding volume of the Covered Wagon Women series, we see the final animal-powered overland migrations that were even then yielding to railroad travel and, in a few short years, to the automobile. The diaries and letters resonate with the vigor and spirit that made possible the settling and community-building of the American West.

Author Biography

Katherine Morrissey is an associate professor of history at the University of Arizona and the author of Mental Territories: Mapping the Inland Empire.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Bison Books Edition	ix
Introduction to Volume XI	xvii
Iowa to Kansas, 1879
Nellie Carpenter
Ada Colvin
Introduction	13	(2)
The Diaries	15	(48)
Kansas Caravan, 1881
Mary E. Bower
Introduction	63	(1)
The Diary	64	(9)
From Princeton, Missouri, to Harney Valley, Oregon, 1885
Viola Springer
Introduction	73	(2)
The Diary	75	(68)
Kansas to Oregon by Road and Rail, 1888
Mrs. Hampton
Introduction	143	(1)
The Diary	144	(19)
An Oregon Journey
Anna Hansberry
Introduction	163	(1)
The Letter	164	(15)
Bibliography for the Series	179	(20)
Index	199