Best of Covered Wagon Women

by Kenneth L. Holmes, Michael L. Tate (Introduction)

Overview

The diaries and letters of women who braved the overland trails during the great nineteenth-century westward migration are treasured documents in the study of the American West. These eight firsthand accounts are among the best ever written. They were selected for the power with which they portray the hardship, adventure, and boundless love for friends and family that characterized the overland experience. Some were written with the skilled pens of educated women. Others bear the marks of crude cabin learning, with archaic and imaginative spelling and a simplicity of expression. All convey the profound effect the westward trek had on these women.

For too long these diaries and letters were secreted away in attics and basements or collected dust on the shelves of manuscript collections across the country. Their publication gives us a fresh perspective on the pioneer experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806139142
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Kenneth L. Holmes (1914–95) was Professor of History at Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University) in Monmouth. He edited and compiled the eleven volumes of the Covered Wagon Women series.

Michael L. Tate is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and author of The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West and Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trail.

Table of Contents

Introduction   Michael L. Tate     9
Editorial Considerations     22
The Commentaries of Keturah Belknap, 1848     23
Adventures of a Party of Gold-seekers, 1850   Margaret A. Frink     41
Journal of Travails to Oregon, 1851   Amelia Hadley     117
Twin Sisters on the Oregon Trail, 1852   Cecelia Adams   Parthenia Blank     149
Iowa to the Columbia River, 1853   Amelia Knight     195
Trip for the Colorado Mines, 1862   Ellen Tootle     231
A Letter from the Oregon Trail, 1863   Elizabeth Elliott     259
The Journal of Mary Ringo, 1864     265
Index     293
Illustrations
Map of major trails     6
Margaret A. Frink     40
Amelia Knight     194
Grave marker of Martin Ringo     264

Editorial Reviews

This is a worthy selection of primary sources first published in the indispensable 11-volume series Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1890. Of the nearly 100 travel accounts initially compiled by editor Holmes, Michael L. Tate (history & Native American studies, Univ. of Nebraska; Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trails) selected eight of the most significant for inclusion here. While the original series spans 50 years, this single volume covers only 1848 to 1864, so it does omit important evolutions in cross-country travel such as the transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869. Scholarly analysis is not the focus; instead, the women's accounts, which range from a few pages of letters to a 50-page diary, are allowed to speak for themselves. Collectively, these narratives weave an intricate tapestry detailing the minutiae of life on the trail and the multitude of perils that travelers faced: disease, accidents, dangerous weather, nonpotable water, and confrontations with Native Americans. An important, very readable collection recommended for both public and academic libraries, especially those with an interest in Western Americana, social history, women's history, and gender studies.
—Crystal Goldman

Library Journal