Product Description: Celebrated showman of the Old West, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody took on another role unknown to most Americans, that of the western land developer and town promoter. In this captivating study, Robert E. Bonner demonstrates that the skills Cody acquired from decades in show business failed to prepare him for the demanding arena of business and finance...read more

A continuation of Letters of a Woman Homesteader, Letters on an Elk Hunt is set in the same corner of southwestern Wyoming, the time is the fall of 1914, and (despite the title) Mrs. Stewart is far less concerned with elk hunting than with people—old friends and new acquaintances—and with the land in which she found so much beauty. Her letters, as Jessamyn West said of the earlier volume, "are, in fact (though not that alone), a collection of short stories." She added that "what makes these letters so good are not these stories, but the character of the storyteller, of Elinore Stewart herself. Her letters endure and give pleasure because she does what the great letter-writers do: she reveals herself. . . . It is the woman in this vanished landscape, the homesteader with her enormous vitality, humor, and tenderness who holds our attention." Jessamyn West's wish to know more about the author herself is fulfilled in the foreword to Letters on an Elk Hunt—an appreciative biographical sketch, incorporating material from some of Mrs. Stewart's unpublished letters as well as the reminiscences of her children.Elizabeth Fuller Ferris, of the Wilderness Women Project, Missoula, Montana, is the writer and producer of Burntfork, a film for public television funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities based upon the life of Elinore Pruitt Stewart.

Product Description: In 1856. President Brigham Young sent rescue teams to the aid of more than a thousand pioneers who were stranded in winter storms on the plains. Little did anyone know then of the need those faithful Saints would have for a Second Rescue-a spiritual rescue that would begin 135 years later...read more

Product Description: Fincelius G. Burnett was born in Missouri in 1844, and had a long, thrilling career on the upper Plains and northern Rockies, initially battling Indians and later befriending them. His days as an army sutler at Forts Phil Kearny and C...read more

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Product Description: 1984 Award for Excellence Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. The life of Charles E. Conrad and the history of Fort Benton, Montana Territory, are so intertwined that the story of one cannot be told independently of the other...read more

"Letters of a Woman Homesteader" is a frontier classic by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, a widowed young mother who accepted an offer to assist with a ranch in Wyoming. In Stewart's delightful collection of letters, she describes her homesteading experiences to her former employer, Mrs. Coney. Stewart's charming descriptions of work, travels, neighbors, animals, land and sky have an authentic feel. The West comes alive, and everyday life becomes captivating. Stewart's writing is clear, witty, and entertaining. Clear as a bell, concise yet comprehensive, replete with localisms and skillfully rendered frontier humor, it makes one want to toss the PC and reference library into the trash and move to some unspoiled wilderness. The 26 letters are brief and tell about her life on the ranch in the early 1900s. The author frequently and unnecessarily apologizes for being too wordy; she begs forgiveness for many "faults," like being forgetful, ungrateful, inconsistent and indifferent, all without apparent cause. On occasion, language reflects the racial prejudice of the time. Many times in "Letters of a Woman Homesteader" Stewart attempts to portray the culturally diverse characters she meets by writing their various dialects as they sound. Elinore Pruitt Stewart was a remarkable woman. After enjoying this book, readers will be equipped with a whole new view of not only life in the early 20th century but of the impact woman had on it. Readers of "Letters of a Woman Homesteader" may also enjoy the film made from it, "Heartland." Elinore also wrote "Letters on an Elk Hunt", as well as many short pieces for periodicals of the day.

Explores the life of the rancher, sheriff, cattle agent, U.S. marshal, gold prospector, bounty hunter, and adjutant general of Oklahoma