Land of Many Hands: Women in the American West

193 Pages·1997·0.51 MB·English

by  Harriet Sigerman

Land of Many Hands:
Women in the
American West
Harriet Sigerman
Oxford University Press
LAND
OF MANY
HANDS
Women in the
American West
Image Not Available
LAND
OF MANY
HANDS
Women in the
American West
Harriet Sigerman
Oxford University Press
New York • Oxford
In loving memory of my mother,
Lillian Sophie Sigerman,
a proud daughter of Texas
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 1997 by Harriet Sigerman
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Design:Greg Wozney
Picture research: Lisa Kirchner
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sigerman, Harriet.
Land of many hands : women in the American West / Harriet Sigerman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: A history of women’s roles in the migration to and
settling of the American West.
ISBN 0-19-509942-7
1. Women pioneers—West (U.S.)—History—Juvenile literature.
2. Frontier and pioneer life—West (U.S.)—Juvenile literature.
3. West (U.S.)—History—Juvenile literature.
4. Overland journeys to the Pacific—Juvenile literature.
[1. Women pioneers. 2. Pioneers. 3. Frontier and pioneer life—West (U.S.)
4. West (U.S.)—History.] I. Title.
F596.S515 1997
978—dc21 97-30004
CIP
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
On the cover:Sunrise, North Rim Grand Canyon. Mabel Fraser, 1928.
Frontispiece:Violet Bailey of Sutton, North Dakota
C o n t e n t s
Introduction 7
Chapter1
“The Land of My Forefathers”:
Native Peoples and Early Hispanic Settlement 17
Chapter2
“We Are Not Alone on These Bare Plains”:
The Mosaic of Westward Migration 43
Chapter3
“You Will Wonder How I Can Bear It”:
Life on the Overland Trail 71
Chapter4
“She Was a Neat and Efficient Housewife”:
Homemaking on the Frontier 93
Chapter5
“I Was Full of My Duties and My Pleasures”:
Making a Life on the Frontier 113
Chapter6
“I Love to Work with Cattle”:
Western Women at Work 129
Chapter7
“There Was a Spirit of Helpfulness”:
Building New Communities 155
FurtherReading 179
Index 186
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6
Introduction
I
n March 1848, Abigail Malick of Tazewell County, Illinois,
set out with her husband, George, and six children for the
Oregon Territory. Rumors abounded that the U.S. govern-
ment would give 640 acres to families who settled the new
region. And, indeed, in 1850 Congress passed the Donation
Land Act, which granted 640 acres to a settler and his wife after
they had lived on and farmed the land for four years. The
promise of free farmland beckoned the Malicks and thousands
of others to the Pacific Northwest, a region with an abundance
of natural resources and fertile land. For these homesteaders,
the prospect of land ownership meant better economic opportu-
nities, an escape from harsh eastern winters, or simply a chance
to try a new way of life.
Like other travelers, the Malicks endured a six-month,
1,800-mile journey by covered wagon over muddy paths,
treacherous mountain passes, and dangerous river crossings.
They crossed a land that was poorly marked, with few roads, Once the day’s
and no towns along the way where they could replenish their journey was done,
settlers heading
supplies. Only a few U.S. military forts connected them
West used their
with their fellow citizens. To make matters worse, Abigail
nights to prepare
Malick reluctantly left behind a married daughter and three for the next day’s
grandchildren. grueling journey.
7
L a n d o f M a n y H a n d s
The Malicks were well-prepared travelers who knew how
to anticipate hazards along the way. But when Hiram, their
strapping 17-year-old son, went swimming in the Platte River
during a stopover in Nebraska Territory on a warm, sunny day,
they were helpless to prevent the tragedy that followed. As his
friends watched, horrified, Hiram struggled to stay afloat in the
swirling river current, which was swollen from heavy April
showers. Seven times he resurfaced and tried to swim his way
to shore, but he was finally overcome by the surging river
waters. “It has Almost kild Me,” Abigail wrote much later, “but I
have to bear it.”
After grieving for Hiram, the Malicks settled into a rela-
tively calm, prosperous life on their new farm near the
Columbia River—only to lose their oldest son, Charles, two
years later. Charles died under mysterious circumstances dur-
ing an expedition to search for gold in California. The Malicks
never learned the exact cause of his death, only various
rumors—that he was robbed and died from his injuries, or
was taken ill. After this fresh loss, Abigail woefully wrote,
“trouble attendes me. Trouble trouble trouble. O lord when will
it be over?”
But it wasn’t over for her yet. Four years later, in the
autumn of 1854, Abigail’s husband died suddenly from a stroke,
leaving Abigail alone to run their farm. Her children were little
help. Abigail complained that Shin, her youngest son, gambled
and would not lift a finger around the farm. “[Shin] Makes Me
the Most trouble [and] whare he Aught to be A Comfourt to Me
he is a trouble.” One daughter died in childbirth, and another
endured a difficult marriage before going insane.
Yet even as Abigail Malick bemoaned her family problems
and the hard work of running the farm, it became the one satis-
fying constant in her life. “I have Abutiful teem of Creem col-
ered Horses,” she wrote her daughter back in Illinois. “One Is a
Horse And the other Is A Mare. And I Have A most butiful
Wagon and Butiful Harnice and A good plow and Harrow.”
With each passing year, Abigail made additional improvements
to her land. She managed to find reasons not to return to
8
I n t r o d u c t i o n
Illinois and left her claim only briefly during a violent clash
between settlers and nearby Indian tribes.
The farm thrived. In her later years, Abigail was especially
proud of the orchard she had planted—pear and plum trees
“and peaches and Cheryes of difrent kindes and Chois Appoles
Sutch As I Never Saw Eny In the States,” she boasted. Abigail
Malick’s children proved to be a constant source of heartbreak
for her, but her farm brought her a glowing sense of pride
and security.
The vast tracts of
Abigail Malick’s story echoes the experiences of thousands
land available in
of other settlers who went west in search of better opportuni-
the West enticed
ties and who, facing hardship and tragedy, managed to wrest a hundreds of
bountiful life from the land. Settlers had been pushing back the thousands of peo-
ple to undertake
western boundaries of the United States since the earliest days
the long, difficult
of the Republic. But starting in the 1840s, the region extending
journey to stake
from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean and from the their claim.
Gulf of Mexico north to the border
of Canada witnessed a historic land
rush that brought fortune-hunters,
settlers eager to build new commu-
nities, and adventurers seeking new
ways to live.
From 1841 to 1866, the heav-
iest years of migration, about
350,000 settlers journeyed west,
most by land, some by ocean pas-
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sage. Hundreds of thousands more
traveled west during the remainder
of the 19th century and well
into the first two decades of the
20th century. Most settlers came
from towns and cities in the east-
ern half of the United States,
traveling west on the Overland
Trail—the path that wagon trains
followed from starting points along
the Missouri River. But many
9