•
•
/
urnpike
by Dorys Cruw Grover
e flow of this
in my mind
'"'"
,ray
in many ways
,esame God
leofthem­
frail in ease
h the ground
,wered by the
artment
);1
The Pioneer Women
•
In
Fact and Fiction
Co.
L L Miller
Sl. John's Lutheran College
T
here is a scarcity of important female figures in the ficlion
and nonfiction of the American Wesl, yet many kinds of women lived
on the {rontier, including pioneer mothers, missionary wives, school
leachers, prostitutes, and lady outlaws. I propose LO focus on the role
of the pioneer woman during the setllemem period as she is depicled
in American literature, to determine whether or not there is a disparity
in her portrayal in facl and as she is romanticized in the literature.
For example. Zane Grey's western heroine is an entirely different
kind of woman (rom the pioneer mother who made a home for her
family on the edge of civilization. The same holds true for the heroines
of Bess Streeter Aldrich, Herbert Quick, and Emerson Hough. Their
heroines are usually refined, educated women who are generally
unencumbered with a husband, children Dr household chores. As
Henry Nash Smith points out, "the genteel female has been the
primary source of refinement in the.
novel.'" Beadle's Dime
Novel heroines are oflen incredible in lheir daring and feals. Some
were caplured as children and had lived among the I ndians for years.
Sometimes a hero rescues them from their captivity, or there may be
a reversal of Ihe roles. The Dime Novel heroine may also be a woman
who can run faster, ride bener and shoot straighter than any man
around.
In contrast to the popular romances, the diaries and letters of
Narcissa Whilman, Eliza Spalding and olher missionary women give
daily aCCOUnlS of their lives. And, serious novelists such as Ole
Rolvaag, Vardis fisher and Willa Cather interpret the lives of
pioneer women with varying degrees of realism. The romanticizing of
the pioneer woman may have golten its impetus from Cooper's
Lealherstocking Tales. Cooper views socielY as patriarchal, in which
women are not full members, except for Hester Bush, the only mother
in all of lhe Tales. She is full partner to her squatter husband, and
full member of the group. Marriage is the matrix of Cooper's
romances, and his women appear to be either marriageable or not
marriageable.' When they are not marriageable, they may get killed
or come to some other misfortune. If they are marriageable, they
meet a hero who is PI' Iheir status in society. Judith HUller, for ex­
35
'.:
ample, is of noble birth, and esc~pes during an Iroquois Indian
attack in which her sisler, Hell) Hutter is killed. Judith i~ saved to
marry a titled Brilish officer. Ellen Wade, on the olher hand. is a
truly romanlic heroine. yet she is also realistic in thal she is more
liberated lhan Hester Bush because she talks back to men. Hesler
does not talk back to Ishmael, but she has a way of maneuvering
him. Cooper indudes women in the Lcatherstocking Tales because
he feels they are the bonds of civilization, and thus he does scI an
example for the future portray~l of women in romarHic fiction.
Zane Grey's stories deal chieny with coWboy life. They are
melodramatic and his char~clers I~ck development. In novel ~fter
novel. Zane Grey's E~stern bred, educated heroines rescue the heroes
from a wayward life, and [he heroes. in turn. usually have an oppor­
tunity to resl;ue the women from some dangerous villain or evil fale.
Owen Wister's hero, The VIrginian. is ~aid to ride [nJiI and work the
beef round-up. but he never ~ctuall} works in the novel. He is not
one l,f Eugene M~nlove Rhodes' Bar Cross men, bUl he is ~n improve­
ment upon Zane Grey's heroes. The Virgini<ln spends mu..::h of his
time I;ouning the school teacher, Molly. a refined and educated
woman from Vermonl. Molly, however. is a stereotype.
Emerson Hough IS ambi~'alent about his pioneer woman. At one
point he refers to her as "the mother of the Wesl.," and s~ys.
The ~hler figure or lhe American We"t. the figure or lhe "~~>,
i, nOI
lhe lonll-haired, fringed·legging man r)din~ a ral'.'·boned pun:-. bUI Ihe g:funl
and ,ad-raced woman 'illing on lhe f,,>nl seal or the ",allon.
her I'ace
hidden in lhe same ragged mnhonnet whieh had n",,,ed lhe Appalach'an" and
the Mi~>ouri long berore.
There I'.'a. lhe grear rOmanCe of all Ameriea­ lhe wuman in the ,unbonnel; and n,,1. after all. the hero wilh the riOe anu~s
his sadd Ie h"Tn.'
ln The Covered Wagon (1922), Hough'~ ~tory of the Oregon Trail.
the heroine Molly Wingate, is a beautiful. refined school leacher who
rides ..... ilh the wagon train through dusl and heat and wind and rain
and never get~ dusty or rumpled. Thus, the popular wrilers tended
to make their characlers highly romantic and appealing to lhe mass
~udience, and perhaps wr01.e with an eye to Ihe movies.
But. historical accounlS of pioneer women. realistic pOrlr<l~<Ils
by wrilers of fiction, and excerpts from the diaries and letters of lhe
women themseh'es tell how they ~urfered the hard.ships of the long
trek across the plains. They knew the heartbreak of bury'ing a child
along the trail, or of having to leave cherished possessions behind
when a wagon broke down., The role of the pioneer woman was
usually that of the follower of her husband or falher, and it was a role
36
lt,
f
.
"
•
/
.pes during an Iroquois Indian
JlIer is killed. Judith is saved 10
Wade, on the other hand. is a
Iso realistk in thaI she is more
she talks back to men. Hesler
she has a way of maneuvering
Leatherstocking Tales because
zatian. and thus he doe" set an
_men in romantic fiction.
ly with cowboy life. They are
ck developmenl. I n novel after
lcated heroines rescue the heroes
,in turn, usu~ll) have an oppor­
ne dangerous villain or evil fate.
s said [0 ride trail and work the
I works in the noveL He is not
~ross men. bUI he is <In improve­
: Virginian spends much of his
Molly. a refined and educated
~r, is a stereotype.
bout his pioneer woman. At une
FtheWesL:' and says,
the Iigurf 01" (he ,,~es.
., nOI
a raw-boned puny, bUI the ~aunl
lUI or Ihe wa~on.
her face
I hid cro~sed the Appatac'hian~ ~nd
the great romance uf all America­
l,
8
:r all, the hero wilh the "ne an'n,
gh's story of the Oregon Trail.
iful, refined school teacher who
~st and heat and wind and rain
tUS, the popular writers tended
,ntic and appealing to the mass
'e to the movies.
:er women, realistic portrayals
m the diaries and letters of the
ered the hardships of the long
: heartbreak of burying a child
e cherished possessions behind
Ie of the pioneer woman .....as
land or father, and it was a role
~he
accepted with varying degrees of willingness and adapcabilily.
Many women were forced into situations for which they were ill­
suited; others met challenges they never dreamed they could conquer.
Somehow, most of them did adapt to frontier conditions, and they
carried oul routine, e~eryday chores in spite of fatigue, pregnancy',
illness, and isolation. Such women were equally adept at handling
emergency situations such as Indian attacks, droughts, and death.
On (he frontier, women lived with their families in meager
cabins which were, according to one traveler, "miserable holes,
having one room only, and in that room, all cook, eal. sleep, breed,
and die, male and female all together." Women not only performed
all of the domestic chores, but helped with the planting and harvesting,
or did the work alone when their husbands were off hunting or drink­
ing. Many tra~'e1ers to the frontier in the first half of the nineteenth
century commented On the hard-working women and the lazy men.
The women yearned for company and were extremely hospitable to
passing travelers. When Thomas Ashe stopped at a frontier home in
Kentucky in the late eiRhteenth century, he noted thai (he husband
"never exchanged a word with hIS wife or his children
. notwith­
standing he had been absent several days.'"
Women continued 10 be a parI of the westward movement, and
in the years between 1830 and 1857 approximately twenty-thousand
of them l.:rossed the plains, some hound for Oregon, some for Cdli­
fornia, but the goal of the majority was the new Zion of the Mormons
in Utah, Vardis Fisher (1895·1968) gives a realistic treatment to the
plight of the Mormon women in his Harper prize-winning novel,
Children of God (1939). Plural marriage had forced an exodus from
Nauvoo. Illinois, where the Latter-day Saints had settled, and
thousands of female com ens walked from Illinois to Salt Lake.
They not only walked the thousand miles or more across the plains
and mountains, taking their place beside husbands, but they pulled
behind them the two-wheeled c:Jrb that held all of their worldly
possessions. A majority of them got through, but hundreds died of
e"haustion and stan-at ion, or froze to death in the snows and below
zero temperatures in the early winter storms of Wyoming. Probably
the only frontier in the nation to have a surplus of women was that
of the Mormon.
The missionary frontier also drew many brave women. Some of
them Came 1O the frontier missions alone, and some died alone, In
1834, Anna Mari Pittman IeI'I New York, making the long voyage
<Iround Cape Horn in order to marry a man she had never met,
Jason Lee, and 1O help him establish a mission in Ihe Willamelle
Valley in the Oregon Territory. Ten months later her husband was
37
called Eas\ on missionary busines.-" and he left her to continue their
work with the Indians. Before he could return, she died trying to
deliver their stillborn child. Two women, Narcis"a Prentiss Whitman
and Eliza Hart Spalding. crossed the continent in 1830, accompany­
ing husbands to missions in the Oregon Territory. They were the first
white women 10 cross the Rock)" Mountains. Their letters and diaries
tell of their toil and sacrifice while with the Cayuse and Nez Perce
Indians. Dr. and Mrs. Whitman were among those massacred by the
Cayuse Indians in 1847 at Waiilatpu. Mrs. Spalding's death was nol
tragic like the !W'hilman's, but she paid a price in years (If hard work
and privation as a lone white woman in a wilderness mission OUtpost
[now Lapwai, Idahol.
Because the frontier was first settled by men, it is possible to
note the change hrought about by while women after their arrival.
Many women who came to (he callie frontier are depicted as refined,
educated women, yet even on that frontier. women were the "scarcest
article in the territory" On the Texas frontier, novelist Conrad
Richter tells how powerful cattleman Colonel Jim Brewton imports
one of the "scarce arlicles," a woman he had never seen, all the way
from Sl. Louis to marry him. In the novel The Sea of Grass (1936).
the young narrator Hal tells of waiting for Miss Lutie Cameron's train
and how he "looked for a woman bold and painted like Read)'
Money Kate from St. Louis,
." Instead, Hal meets a slender
woman of unmistakable quality and tailoring.-' But, Lutie Cameron's
marriage to Colonel Brewton is not a happy one, and she leaves him
and their children. Her loneliness in the open spaces of the prairie
with its treeless, dusty stretches reminds one of the loneliness of
Beret Hansa, heroine of Ole Rolvaag's no;"el, Giants in Ihe Earth
(1927). Beret 100 is intimidated by the constant blowing of the wind
and the endless open land where "there isn't even a thing that one
can hide behind!'" Beret dreams of the foresLs of her nati~"e Norway.
Her etapboard home with its hand-hewn furniture is contrasted to the
one item she brought with her a trunk that holds the few fragile
treasures of her past.
Antonia, Willa Cather's Bohemian heroine, is able to adapt to
her environment more easily' than either Beret or Lutie. Antonia
works like a man on the Nebraska frontier, and as a girl hItches her­
self to a plow. She weathers disillusionment and disgrace. and like a
man. she pays for her mistakes. An\onia shares the rigors of building
a home in complete Freedom of choice.
Likewise, Hamlin Garland's women on the midwestern farming
frontier followed hu.-,bands and fathers to the unsettled region where
the women had a hard life. In a hrief sketch of hi~ mother, Garland
40
r.d he left her to cont inue their
luld return. she died trying to
en. Narcissa Prentiss Whitman
Fontinent in 1830, accompany­
Territory, They were the first
rHains, Their letters and diaries
ith the CI\.u,se and Nez Perce
lr.mong, thos~ ~ assacred by the
I.Mrs, Spaldwg s death was not
rr a price in years of hard work
III a wilderness mission ou lpost
r
ttled b~ men. it is possible to
lite
women after their arrival.
I
'rolltier are depicted as refined.
Itier. women were the "scarcest
as frontier, novelist Conrad
Colonel Jim Brewton imports
he had never seen, all the way
o\'el The Sea of Grass (1936),
for Miss Lutie Cameron's train
lbOld and painted like Ready
Instead. Hal meets a slender
I
fluring.' But, Lutie Cameron's
happy one, and she leaves him
lhe open spaces of the prairie
'nds one of the loneliness of
~'s nOllel, Gianls in the Earth
constant blowing of the wind
re isn't cI'en a thing that one
; forests of her nat i\Ie Norway.
furniture is contrasted 10 the
nk that holds the few fragile
'" heroi ne. is able to adapt to
her Beret or Lutie, Antonia
tier. and as a girl hitches her­
ment and disgrace. and like a
ia shares the rigors of building
Pioneer woman and child,
en on the midwestern farming
to the unsellled region where
ketch of his mother. Garland
I
I
says, "She was neither willy, nor learned in books, nor wise in the
ways of the world, but I contend that her life was noble.'" The Gar­
land family moved often and always funher West Lo a ruder cabin.
Garland'~ romantic heroine, Rose DUlcher, in Rose of Dutcher's
Coull)' (l~95), has an ea~ier life than his pioneer mother because
Rose\ f<llher works hard on his farm Lo give her an education and
other advantages. It was the pioneer mother who made a hime in the
dugouts, the log cabins, and the shanties on the fronlier. The women
wh,) moved from New York, Kentucky. Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri,
never in all of their '.oiling days forgo! thal they were 100king for a
belief place, if nOl for themselves. at least for their children.
Of course, not all of the women who came West were respectable.
Sex played a part in the settlement of the West, and the ladies in the
mming camps made a forlune in their trade. Bret Harte in his slory.
"The Outcaqs of Poker Flat," (Over/arid Monthl}', 1868) tells about
a shady lady and a gambler who are driven from a mining camp. But,
Bret Harte's ladies often have "hearts of gold," and tarnished repu­
lations, but they are the kindest, best-looking, most faithful, and
honest whores of the West.
The shady ladies also inhabited the lumber ports of the Pacific
Nonhwest as well a5 the mining and cattle frontiers. When a de­
pression struck in San Francisco at the end of the Civil War, a hand­
ful of out-of-work Barbary Coast girls were shipped to Seattle, the
center of the Northwest lumber industry. Some of the women
married; however, many men considered such marriages undesirable.
Among Ihem was a righteous young carpenter fresh from the ci~'i\ized
Midwest named Asa Mercer. He had been working on the new Ter­
ritorial University building, and when it .....'as finished he moved inside
as president and facu\\y of the institution. A major topic of conver­
sation at the time was the shortage of maidens wonhy lo become the
wives of the pioneer lumbermen. So, Asa Mercer dni_~ed a scheme.
He talked a number of Seattle's frustrated young bachelors into
paying in advallce, sight unseen, for Wl~es which Mercer would bring
from the East. When he arrived in New England, he visited the textile
mill towns and perwaded some of the maidens into sailing to
Seattle.
Imagine the excitement of the eager young lumberman who stand­
ing on the wharf at Seattle, cried:
"The maids are come! Hurrah!"
"Mercer's Belles," as they came to be known, soon found hus­
bands, bUI whether or not they married the men who had financed
Mer>.:er's trip East is unknown, A second trip whereby Mercer was to
secure five hundred maidens failed because publicity placed Mercer's
42
rned in books, nor wise 1tl the
her life was noble.''' The Gar­
further West to a ruder cabin.
~utcher. im Rose 0/ Dutcher's
In his piolileer mother because
to give her an education and
other who made a hime in the
ies on the fronlier. The women
I}, Illinois. Oh in. and Missouri,
t tha~ they were 100ki ng for a
sL for their children.
ho came West were respectable.
"lhe WesL, and the ladies in the
r trade. Brel Harte in his stOry,
'and MOllthly. 1868) tells about
riven from a mining camp. BUL,
IS of gold," and tarnished repu­
eSl-lookitlg. most faiLhful, and
he lum ber pons of the Pacific
Id callie fronliers. When a de­
e end of the Civil War, a hand­
Is were shipped to SeaHle, lhe
~duslry. Some of the women
ed such marriages undesirable.
arpenter fresh from the civilized
been 'Working on the new Ter­
it was finished he moved inside
Ition. A major topic of conver­
~maidens worthy lo become lhe
As.a Mercer devised a scheme.
strated \ oung bachelors into
iives which Me~rcer would bring
England. he visited the textile
I the maidens inlO sailing 10
.... 'lllll
rll,,~1_1';10~~
-,.,,,,­
t·
I
1.
I
'-"­
T LX.,"
_\olOI~'flV,1l
W ... 'Il:U
_CIlaARIVO'f1tAl.
_ ; .. WFQM:-.;t.l.T1l"'-'
_
QUl
yoA....1SH rtNl...
r
Fr young lumberman who sland­
llo be known, soon found hus­
fied the men who had financed
,)nd trip whereby Mercer was to
~ause publicity placed Mercer's
prOject In a bad hght when the New York Herald implied most of lhe
women were destined for walerfront dives. Many of the women who
migrated became the founders of the first families of Seattle. Mercer
hi mself married one of hi s imports.
Money and unattached men aLLraCled bOlh good and bad women
to the frontier. Certainly after the Civil War the lack of eligible men
in the East caused women to migrate. The shady ladies followed men
wherever they went, and historian Harry S. Drago says.
43
II IS one of the enduring myths of American hiltory thai pro~tilution made
a 'if!nlficant comribution to lhe settling of (he ","'ut, ba~crl on the charitable
and widely held opinion that countle~s number, of the ~o-callcrl "frails"
hrll~e !tlllay from their old proles,ion, married and become good wives and
mothers, Some did. But the number become, in,ignificant "'hen one is con­
I'rllnted by the facl thal no
more--(han 50,000 bawds plied their trade
in the v.c'tern Uniled Slale,.
The pioneer woman in fact wenl west to make a home for her family.
Thus, it appears thal the pioneer mothers, the missionary wives, and
the daughters of the pioneers were the women who conlribuled most
to the settlement of the frontier, ralher than the type of genteel
woman portrayed in the popular western romances. The frontier
woman in American literature is a complex, realistic woman, and a
gall ani figure. She is, as Emerson Hough says, "the mother of the
West." Of all of the women portrayed in the history and literature
of the United Stales, the woman on the frontier has been accorded
the most respectable position because she valued herself, she was
self-reliant, and she spoke for equal rights in a male-dominated
society.
East Teltas Slate University
NOTES
This paper "'ItS read before the American LileralUre '0 19(Xl Section of the Rocky
Mountain Modern Language As,;ociation annual m~tjng, October 1\·23. 1916, College
of Santa Fe, Sanla Fe, New Mexico.
I See Virgin Land: The American West w Symbol and My/h (New YQr~:
Vinlage. 1>l50). pp. 126--135.
2, [am indebted to Nina Baym's essay, "The Women of Cooper's Leather~tocking
Tale;.... Amtrh-an QlJarll'rly, XXIII:5 (December, 1971).696·709, for the above in·
formaiioll
3. See The PaHinfi af Ihe FmnNer A Chronicfe of the Old Wen (New Haven'
Yale Univ. Press, 1916). pp. 93-4.
4. I am indebted te> Hemon" A Woman', Vill'w of American Hi.<lory by June
Sochen (New Yorl<: Alfred Publislling Co., Inc.. 1974), pp. 112·15, for the abo~e in­
formation.
5. The Sea (~f Grass (New Yor~: Alfred A. Knope, Inc_, 1936), pp. 8-12.
6. Giants in the Ear/h: A Saflu of /1It' Prairlt' INew York and London: Harper &
Brother>, Publi.hers, 1927}, p. 29
1. A Pioneer MOlher(Chi,agll: The BookfelloW'~, 1922), p. 5.
6. ;"VolOrioIJS Ladie, of /1It' Fr""/Jer (New York: Ballantine Bool<1, 1969, 1972),
p, i,.
44