Letters of a Woman Homesteader

Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart is a charming set of letters which offer a unique, distinctly female perspective on the American frontier experience. They chronicle the adventures of a young widow as she travels west with her small daughter from Denver to Wyoming, takes a job as housekeeper on a cattle ranch, and eventually stakes (and proves up on) her own claim. The letters, which were written over a span of years from 1909 to 1913, walk the line between truth and fiction; they are largely true, although some details and many of the names were changed by the author in order to create a stronger narrative and to protect the privacy of herself and her friends. But the stories of the men and woman who lived, loved, and worked in the Burntfork area of Wyoming in the early twentieth century are true stories, and they are astonishing, amusing, and inspiring by turns.