Covered Wagon Women, Volume 11 : Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1879-1903

The stories seem simple—they left, they traveled, they settled—yet the restless westering impulse of Americans created one of the most enduring figures in our frontier pantheon: the hardy pioneer persevering against all odds. Undeterred by storms, ruthless bandits, towering mountains, and raging epidemics, the women in these volumes suggest why the pioneer represented the highest ideals and aspirations of a young nation. In this concluding volume of the Covered Wagon Women series, we see the final animal-powered overland migrations that were even then yielding to railroad travel and, in a few short years, to the automobile. The diaries and letters resonate with the vigor and spirit that made possible the settling and community-building of the American West. V. 1. The Women Who Traveled West In Covered Wagons During The 1840s Speak Through These Letters And Diaries. Here Are The Voices Of Tamsen Donner And Young Virginia Reed, Members Of The Ill-fated Donner Party; Patty Sessions, The Mormon Midwife Who Delivered Five Babies On The Trail Between Omaha And Salt Lake City; Rachel Fisher, Who Buried Both Her Husband And Her Little Girl Before Reaching Oregon. Still Others Make Themselves Heard, Starting Out From Different Places And Recording Details Along The Way, From The Mundane To The Soul-shattering And Spirit-lifting. V. 1. 1840-1849 -- V. 2. 1850 -- V. 3. 1851 -- V. 4. 1852, The California Trail -- V. 5. 1852, The Oregon Trail -- V. 6. 1853-1854 -- V. 7. 1854-1860 -- V. 8. 1862-1865 -- V. 9. 1864-1868 -- V. 10 1875-1883 -- V. 11. 1879-1903. Edited & Compiled By Kenneth L. Holmes. Vol. 5 Edited And Compiled By Kenneth L. Holmes And David C. Duniway. Originally Published: Glendale, Calif. : A.h. Clark Co., 1983-1993. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. In 1852 a record number of women helped keep the wagons rolling over the perilous western trails. The fourth volume of Covered Wagon Women is devoted to families headed for California that year. Diaries and letters of six pioneer women describe the rigors en route, trailside celebrations and tragedies, the scourge of cholera, and encounters with the Indians. Vol. 1 : 1840-1849 ; vol. 2 : 1850 ; vol. 3 : 1851 ; vol. 4 : 1852 ; vol. 5 : 1852, the Oregon trail ; vol. 6 : 1853-1854 ; vol. 7 : 1854-1860 ; vol. 8 : 1862-1865 ; vol. 9 : 1864-1868 ; vol. 10 : 1875-1883 ; vol. 11 : 1879-1903.