Rodeo Women of the 1800's

Most women of the 1800's learned to ride out of necessity from helping on the ranch and practicing the skills of the range. From an early age, women could stay in the saddle, break a bronc and rope a steer.

In the late 1800's, the younger horsewomen began competing against males in a yearly gathering of herds -which progressed into participating in rodeo's.
 
The first rodeos began in the mid-1800 when thousands of cattle and horses were driven to town for the yearly round-up. The cowboys were eager for relaxation and would compete in tests of skills like roping, breaking horses, branding cattle and racing.
 
Women of the 1800, however, were not recognized in the arena until 1885. The most famous cowgirl was Phoebe Ann Moses or Annie Oakley (pictured here).

Here are two stories of women who also helped start the movement of women in Rodeo's (Stories are from the book "Daughters of the West" by Anne Seagraves.)

In 1897, Bertha Kaelpernick Blancett (pictured above) rode over 100 miles to enter a horse race in Cheyenne's Frontier Days and she was allowed to enter only because the arena was so muddy the cowboys refused to participate. Bertha was coerced into riding a bucking horse to keep the crowd from leaving. Once upon the animal, the petite girl had the ride of her life. Part of the time the horse was up in the air on his hind feet and once he fell backwards, but gutsy Bertha skillfully slid to his side and hung on. Although it was said at that time, that Bertha was a terrible bucker, she had managed to remain in the saddle, putting the cowboys to shame.

Later in 1904 Bertha became a star performer in Claude William's show and was a four time winner in Roman Racing at Pendleton. Bertha rode under men's rules, was seldom defeated and often beat such cowboys as Ben Corbett and Hoot Gibson.

Four years later Prairie Rose Henderson, an exuberant and talented daughter of a Wyoming rancher, rode to Cheyenne to enter a bronc busting contest. When the lady arrived, she was told, much to her chagrin that women were not permitted to ride. When Rose demanded to see the rules, she found there was no clause forbidding women to compete, and the officials were forced to let her participate. Her entrance into the arena created a sensation. Women had always been spectators, not competitors, and Miss Henderson was a colorful person. She came dashing out of the chute hanging on with all her strength and promptly lost the race. Prairie Rose, however, was really a winner, for she had opened the door to rodeo for other women to follow.
 
Later, Rose went on to victory in other rodeos and became one of the most flamboyant cowgirls of her era. In 1918, she entered the Gordon Nebraska rodeo wearing ostrich plumes over her bloomers and a blouse covered with bright sequins she had carefully sewn herself.
 
Rose eventually married a rancher and one cloudy day in 1932, Rose rode off to her last competition. This time, she faced her greatest fear, a storm, and lost her life during a blizzard. Prairie Rose's body was discovered nine years later and identified only by her champion belt buckle.




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Lizzie Johnson...Texas Cattle Queen

 

Lizzie Johnson Williams was a pioneer women of the old west..a "pioneer" in every sense of the word. She was smart; hardworking, a businesswoman and she loved the finer things!! And she was the first and only woman in Texas history to accompany her own herd of Texas longhorns up the Chisolm Trail.

Elizabeth E. Johnson was born in Missouri in 1843. Lizzie moved to Hays County, Texas where her father started the Johnson Institute in 1852. At sixteen she started to teacher at her fathers school. She moved to teach at other schools in Texas all the while saving her money. She was smart with her money and invested it in stocks. She purchased $2,500 worth of stock in the Evans, Snider, Bewell Cattle Co. of Chicago. She earned 100 percent dividends for three years straight and then sold her stock for $20,000.!!

On June 1, 1871, Lizzie invested her money in cattle and registered her own brand (CY) in the Travis County brand book along with her mark. She was an official cattle woman.

In the summer of 1879, at the age of thirty-six, she married Hezkiah G Williams. Hezkiah was a preacher and widower who had several children. After her marriage, Lizzie continued to teach and invest in cattle. Lizzie was a smart businesswoman, even after her marriage she continued to maintain control over her wealth and cattle business. A progressive thinker, she had her husband sign a paper agreeing that all of her property remained hers.

Hezkiah did not have the same "head" for business that his wife possessed. In 1881, on his own, he entered into the cattle business. Along with poor business skills, Hezkiah also liked to drink. Lizzie had to constantly help her husband out of financial trouble.

Lizzie and Hezkiah traveled up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas at least twice. They rode behind the herd in a buggy drawn by a team of horses. For several years she and her husband, after coming up the Chisholm Trail, spent the fall and winter months in St. Louis, where Lizzie made extra money by keeping books for other cattlemen. While in St. Louis, she also liked to "treat" herself to some finer things, like current dress fashions, fine clothes and jewels.

 Chisholm Trail

 

During the Civil War, Lizzie was able to grow her cattle herd by overseeing a process called "brushpopping". Since so many men were away at war and there were few fences to keep the cattle contained, the numbers of "unbranded" cattle in the brush of South Texas began to grow. At that time "unbranded" cattle were fair game- you found them - you kept them. Lizzie had her cowboys comb the thickets for cattle -"brushpopping" round them up and transport them to her growing ranch.

Hezkiah passed away in 1914 in El Paso. It is rumored that Lizzie purchased a $600 top-of-the-line coffin for her husband. When she signed the bill of payment, she wrote across it "I loved this old buzzard this much."

Lizzie eventually became somewhat of a recluse. She lived meagerly, wearing frugal dresses and just living on a diet of soup and crackers. On October 9, 1924 Lizzie Johnson Williams passed away at the age of 81. Her estate totaled $250,000. Family members found thousands of dollars in diamonds locked away in her basement and she had large holdings in Austin real estate.

Lizzie was a true "pioneer" of her time and a great inspiration to women of the old west..and today!

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Pioneer Women of the 1800's...Strong, Courageous, smart.

Women on the frontier in the 1800's were not the beautiful dainty wallflowers like their counter parts in Europe. The frontier women had to be strong, resourceful, hard working, and a great horseman.

Women in the 1800’s took part in all facets of Frontier Life. The hardship of frontier life required that all members of the family take part to make ends meet. So, 1800 women mounted their horses to hunt with their husbands and also camp out for days. Some women even became cattle-women. One such cattle-women was Elizabeth E. Johnson.

*Elizabeth E. Johnson was born in Missouri in 1843. She moved to Hays County, Texas soon after her father had established the Johnson Institute there in 1852. Lizzie began teaching at the school when she was sixteen. Later she left to teach in schools at Manor, Lockhart, and Austin. Quietly she saved her money and added to her income by writing stories for Frank Leslie’s Magazine. As she accumulated money, she invested it. At one point she purchased $2,500 worth of stock in the Evans, Snider, Bewell Cattle Co. of Chicago. She earned 100 percent dividends for three years straight and then sold her stock for $20,000. On June 1, 1871, she invested the money in cattle and registered her own brand (CY) in the Travis County brand book along with her mark.

Lizzie Johnson’s wealth continued to grow. So did her responsibilities. In the summer of 1879, at the age of thirty-six, she married Hezkiah G Williams, a preacher and widower with several children. She continued to teach school in Austin, write magazine articles, and invest in cattle. She maintained control over her wealth, having had her husband sign a paper agreeing that all of her property remained hers. On his own, Hezkiah entered the cattle business in 1881, but he was a poor businessman who also liked to drink, and Lizzie had to keep pulling him out of financial trouble. At least twice Lizzie and Hezkiah traveled up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas. They rode behind the herd in a buggy drawn by a team of horses. This was about 1879, and Lizzie was the first woman to drive her own herd up the trail. For several years she and her husband, after coming up the trail, spent the fall and winter months in St. Louis, where Lizzie made extra money by keeping books for other cattlemen. When she died in 1924, at the age of 81 (her husband had died on 1914), Lizzie Johnson’s estate totaled more than $200,000, including large holdings in Austin real estate.


(*An excerpt from Emily Jones Shelton, “Lizzie E Johnson: A Cattle Queen of Texas” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol L (1947) pp 349-366)

The old west is filled with stories like this of men and women and their adventures on the trail. They worked hard for a living and expected their horse tack to work just as hard and to last.

The styles of the old time horse tack are not only appealing to the “old time cowboy” but like the horse tack of the 1800, the durability and quality is essential to the cowboy and the horse.

Breast Collar Old Martingale style "Choker"

Hand crafted from the finest Hermann Oak Rough Out Oiled Golden Bridle Leather with chap lining. This Old Martingale style shaped breast collar (some in the sage call it a "CHOKER") features an over the shoulder fit for a better pulling position. Also featured is the adjustable neck strap and billet.

Cowboy Style Headstall/ReinSet

This old time Traditional Buckaroo Cowboy Style Leather Headstall Set with Shaped Cheeks and Flair Brow is hand crafted from premium heavy weight Harness Hermann Oak Leather.


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Patent Medicine Trail Blazer, Lydia E. Pinkham

Last week I wrote of the traveling medicine shows and the phenomenon of patent medicine. I wanted to share this biography of one of the biggest producers of patent medicine, Lydia E Pinkham. Her success was not only the product, which like all the patent medicines contained a high alcohol content, but her unique marketing strategy.

Her strategy was to simply give the women of the 1800's a voice. Women' s medical conditions and problems were not discussed in the 1800's. Lydia Pinkham encouraged women to talk about their conditions and gain knowledge on how to treat them.

Lydia E Pinkhams story is a fine example of the strength and resolve of the women in the 1800's.

(biography from Wikipedia)

Lydia Estes Pinkham (February 9, 1819 – May 17, 1883) was an iconic concocter and shrewd marketer of a commercially successful herbal-alcoholic "women's tonic" meant to relieve menstrual and menopausal pains.

Lydia Pinkham was born in the manufacturing city of Lynn, Massachusetts, the tenth of the twelve children of William and Rebecca Estes. William Estes was originally a shoemaker, but by the time Lydia was born in 1819 he had become wealthy through dealing in real estate and had risen to the status of "gentleman farmer" Lydia was educated at Lynn Academy and worked as a schoolteacher before her marriage in September 1843.

Isaac Pinkham was a 29-year-old shoe manufacturer when he married Lydia in 1843, he would try various business without much success. Lydia gave birth to her first child Charles Hacker Pinkham in 1844, lost her second child to gastroenteritis, and gave birth to her second surviving child Daniel Rogers Pinkham in 1848. A third son, William Pinkham, was born in 1852 and a daughter Aroline Chase Pinkham in 1857. (All the Pinkham children would eventually be involved in the Pinkham medicine business.)

Like many women of her time Lydia Pinkham brewed home remedies, which she continually collected. Her remedy for "female complaints" became very popular among her neighbors to whom she gave it away. One story is that her husband was given the recipe as part payment for a debt, whatever truth may be in this the ingredients of her remedy were generally consistent with the herbal knowledge available to her through such sources as John King's American Dispensary, which she is known to have owned and used. In Lydia Pinkham's time and place the reputation of the medical profession was low. Medical fees were too expensive for most Americans to afford except in emergencies, in which case the remedies were more likely to kill than cure. For example a common "medicine" was calomel, in fact not a medicine but a deadly mercurial toxin, and this fact was even at the time sufficiently well known among the skeptical to be the subject of a popular comic song. In these circumstances there is no mystery why many preferred to trust unlicensed "root and herb" practitioners, and to trust women prepared to share their domestic remedies such as Lydia Pinkham.


Isaac Pinkham was financially ruined in the Panic of 1873, he narrowly escaped arrest for debt and his health was permanently broken by the associated stress. The fortunes of the Pinkham family had long been patchy but they now entered on hard times. Lydia sometimes accepted payment for her popular remedy for female complaints. It is reputed to have been her son Daniel who came up with the idea, in 1875 of making a family business of the remedy. Lydia initially made the remedy on her stove before its success enabled production to be transferred to a factory, she answered letters from customers and probably wrote most of the advertising copy. Mass marketed from 1876 on, Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound became one of the best known patent medicines of the 19th century. Descendants of this product are still available today. Lydia's skill was in marketing her product directly to women and her company continued her shrewd marketing tactics after her death. Her own face was on the label and her company was particularly keen on the use of testimonials from grateful women.


Advertising copy urged women to write to Mrs. Pinkham. They did, and they received answers. They continued to write and receive answers for decades after Lydia Pinkham's death. These staff-written answers combined forthright talk about women's medical issues, advice, and, of course, recommendations for her product. In 1905 the Ladies' Home Journal published a photograph of Lydia Pinkham's tombstone and exposed the ruse. The Pinkham Company insisted that it had never meant to imply that the letters were being answered by Lydia Pinkham, but by her daughter-in-law, Jennie Pinkham.

Although Pinkham's motives were partly self-serving, many modern-day feminists admire her for distributing information on menstruation and the "facts of life" and consider her to be a crusader for women's health issues in a day when women were poorly served by the medical establishment.


In 1922, Lydia's daughter Aroline Chase Pinkham Gove founded the Lydia E. Pinkham Memorial Clinic in Salem, Massachusetts. The clinic, still in operation as of 2004[update], provides health services to young mothers and their children. It is designated Site 9 of the Salem Women's Heritage Trail.



You can still purchase Lydia Pinkham Vegetable Compound today. The ingredients have been updated to meet FDA standards, but the claims of relief are the same.




















The original formula for Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was:

* Unicorn root (Aletris farinosa L.) 8 oz.
* Life root (Senecio aureus L.) 6 oz.
* Black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt.) 6 oz.
* Pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa L.) 6 oz.
* Fenugreek seed (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) 12 oz.



Modern formula-straight from the bottle

Supplement Facts
Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon
Amount Per 1 Tablespoonful %Daily Value
Vitamin C
20 mg 33%
Vitamin E
5 mg 16.5%%
Proprietary Blend
3 g
Jamaica Dogwood (bark)
†
Motherwart (leaf)
†
Dandelion (root)
†
Pleurisy (root)
†
Glycyrrhiza (licorice root)
†
Black Cohosh (root)
†
Gentian (root)
†
†Daily value not established.
Ingredients: water, fructose, ascorbic acid, dogwood bark, motherwart leaf, flavor, dandelion root, alcohol 10%, pleurisy root, licorice root, salicylic acid, edetic acid, sodium benzoate, black cohosh root, dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate, BHA, butylparaben, gentian root.

Directions: Shake before using. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day with meals. For best results, take regularly throughout the month. If preferred, mix with fruit juice.

If you are pregnant or nursing a baby, seek the advice of a health professional before using this product.

*This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.




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Women of the 1800s on the Cattle Drive

The experiences of life on the Prairie by the true cowboys, are stories of danger, hardships and true character.

On these adventures were also the women. The tales that follow are their stories of life on the Cattle Drive. Excerpts from the book "The Cowgirls" by Joyce Gibson Roach


A Womens Perspective on The Cattle Drive



Mrs. Amanda Burks of Cotulla Texas, describes how cattle had to be rushed through stretches of timber in order to keep them from scattering, and how during electrical storms "lighting seemed to settle on the ground and creep along like something alive." She survived a hail storm during which she had to tie her horses to keep them from running away with her, and then found herself lost from the group. When she was with t he crew, Amanda often was left alone in camp at night while the men stood alert for stampede.

Amanda saw the great spectacle of fifteen herds lined out waiting to cross the Trinity River and of a stampede caused by Indians in which the Burks's herd was mixed with another.

While many women must have seen prairie fires, probably few ever saw one which started with their own two little hands. Amanda, thinking she would be helpful, decided to build a fire in a dry gully attached to the prairie on either side. It did not take long to set the entire countryside ablaze. Mrs. Burks was impressed that the cowboys did not fuss at her about the fire. In fact she noted that along the trail the men were attentive to her and made a point of hunting surprises of wild fruit and prairie chickens for her.

Mrs. Burks knew what it was to suffer through winter on the plains, but of each of her hardships she said that it helped break the monotony. Some felt sorry for Amanda but her reply was:

"....what women, youthful and full spirit and the love of living, needs sympathy because of availing herself of the opportunity of being with her husband while at his chosen work in the great out-of-door world."




In 1871, Harriet Cluck gathered her three children up along with George, her husband and one thousand head of cattle, headed north from Texas up the Chisholm Trail. The family packed their belongings in an old hack, but Mrs. Cluck kept her spy glass and shotgun always with her.

The journey went smoothly until the herd hit the Red River. The river was flooded and Mrs. Cluck handed her children over to trusted riders while she climbed on behind her husband on his horse to make the crossing.

Mrs. Cluck made it a point to scan the horizon for trouble and one day she found it-rustlers. Helping to load the shotguns, Mrs. Cluck bolstered the courage of younger cowboys by calling out, "If any of you boys are afraid to fight, come here and drive the hack and give me your guns and horse." When the rustlers approached the herd and asked for a tribute, George Cluck replied, "I have sixteen as good fighters under me as ever crossed the Red River and they are all crack shots. When you get ready, open the ball, but us Texans will dance the first set."

No doubt Harriet felt the same way.


I hope you have enjoyed these stories- please check back for more of these amazing stories of Women on the Prairie.




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Pearl Hart-1800 Pioneer Women

The Last of the Lady Road Agents

The era of the old west was the most colorful period of our nation's history. It was a time when notorious outlaws and brave lawman became legendary characters whose name are more popular today than in the 1800s. By the turn of the century though, the west was becoming civilized. Trains were slowly replacing the older methods of transportation and most of the desperados were either dead or in exile. The days of the stagecoach robberies were past, at least the citizens of Arizona thought so. On May 30, 1899 when two people stepped out onto the road with guns drawn, and commanded the driver of the Benson-Globe stage to "Halt!" and, the short career of Pearl Hart, who is known as "The Last of the Lady Road Agents" began.

When the stage came to a stop, three nervous passengers disembarked and obediently raised their hands in the air. They noticed the bandits were an odd pair. One was tall, muscular and sported a fancy mustache. The other smaller one appeared to be a woman whose figure was poorly concealed. She was wearing a rough miner's shirt and blue overalls, which were tucked into course boots that were obviously too large. A few dark curls escaped from beneath the dirty cowboy hat that covered her head and the hands that ransacked the passenger's pockets were small and white.

The haul was not a poor one. A drummer had $290, a heavy set man turned over $36 and a Chinese merchant added $100. The robbers seemed content and the smaller one silently returned four dollars to each passenger for bed and food. Then they rode off into the bushes and the stage continued on its way at a fast pace. When it arrived in Globe, the driver ran in and notified the sheriff and an excited posse set out in pursuit of the dangerous renegades. The old timers, however, seemed almost happy, for to them a robbery meant the old west was still alive and kicking.

Meanwhile the road agents who were clearly novices attempted to cover their tracks. They were unfamiliar with the territory and spent three days plunging across canyons and doubling back, only to find themselves a few miles from the scene of the crime. When the posse found them they were sound asleep on the ground. Neither one even had the chance to spend a penny of their ill gotton gains.

The sheriff awakened the pair and asked the man his name. When he seemed hesitant to answer, the woman said, "Joe, its Joe Boot." No one ever knew his true identity, so that was how he was booked. Boot didn't give the lawman any trouble, he turned himself over without a word, but the woman was not anxious to go to jail, she put up quite a fight and had to be subdued. The Arizona Star reported, "She is a wild-cat of a woman and had she not been relieved of her gun a bloody foray might have resulted." When they reached the jail, Pearl was carrying all the money.

The path that led Pearl Hart to that fateful day in May was long and hard. She was born in 1872 in Ontario, Canada, and christened Pearl by her mother, no one is sure of her last name. It can be assumed Pearl had a normal childhood, very little has been written about her early years. She entered a boarding school for young ladies at the age of 16, and while there she met a personable man named Hart. He swept the girl off of her feet with his looks and promises. A year later they eloped, much to her mother's dismay.

Hart was a semi-professional gambler, sometime bartender and full-time drinker who spent more hours nursing his hangovers than working. Pearl returned to her mother several times during her marriage, but Hart always managed to convince her to give him one more chance.

In 1893 they went to Chicago in hopes of finding steady employment at the World Columbian Exposition. Hart was confident he could get a good bartending job. He ended up instead as a barker in a shabby side show. Pearl, however, discovered the glamour of the West in the form of the tall, muscular cowboys who were part of the entertainment. It wasn't long before one of the amorous cowhands convinced the pretty lady to accompany him to Colorado. He paid her way but soon left her there to fend for herself.

Pearl's admiration for cowboys ended and she began cooking in the mining camps of the west. For the first time she began to save money and was doing well. Pearl especially liked the attention she received from the male population. One day in Phoenix,Arizona , she ran into her husband. When he noticed she looked prosperous he decided to get a bit of her money. Once more Hart talked his way back into her life with the usual promises.

This time he did settle down for a few years and held a steady job. During that interlude they had two babies. Hart again showed his lack of responsibility when he began drinking and abusing his family. Pearl knew she really had enough of her husband and sent her children to her mother, who was living in Ohio.

Without the babies and her husband, Pearl returned to the mining camps disillusioned with life. She drifted from place to place and soon began drinking heavily and using drugs. There were many men in her life, but she was not a prostitute.

In 1889 Pearl met Joe Boot in a mining camp in Arizona, and they became close friends. Whether Pearl was in love with Boot or not has never been revealed, although at the time of their arrest she claimed undying affection for the man. At other times, however she expressed disgust for him and said he was weak and worthless.

Boot was with Pearl when she received a letter saying her mother who she loved very much, was ill and needed money for medical expenses. She and Boot looked at their resources and since neither one had any, devised a plan to rob the stage. At least that is the reason they gave the police. Boot said he just went along with it to help the women.

This was Pearl's first encounter wit h the law and her last, but it made headlines throughout the United States. Many newspaper reporters rushed to Arizona to write every detail of the "sordid" crime they could dig up, whether it was true or not. Pearl was portrayed as a fallen woman and described as a morphine fiend. Through the years writers have continued to tell of the notorious Pearl Hart who will forever be remembered as a stage robber.

Sheriff Bill Truman of Pima County said she was a tiger-cat for nerve and endurance and would have killed him if she could. In another report it was written, "She is a delicate, dark haired woman, with little about her that would suggest the ability to hold up a stage loaded with frontiersmen. She had refined features, a mouth of the true rosebud type, and clear blue eyes that would be confiding and baby-like were it not for the few lines that come only through the seamy side of life. In weight she is not over 100 pounds, in form slight and graceful".

Joe Boot, on the other hand was described by Sheriff Truman as, " a weak morphine-depraved specimen of mortality, without spirit and lacking intelligence and activity. It is plain the woman was the leader of the assorted partnership. She does not deny that such was the case and expresses nothing but contempt for her companion."

The prisoners were first taken to Florence for preliminary hearings and held over without bond to answer to the grand jury. Pearl was transferred to the Pima County jail at Tucson because there were no accommodations for women in the Florence jail. It was said Pearl cried when they separated her from Boot.

On October 20, 1899, The Tucson Star wrote of Pearl's escape from the Tucson jail. The officers were quite upset over it as they had taken every precaution for her safe keeping. The newspaper wrote, "It is evident that after everything was quiet someone entered the courthouse, walked up the stairway and entered the tower room. It was the work of but a few minutes to cut a hole through the wall into Pearl's room. She held a sheet to catch the plaster that fell by her side. After the hole was cut through, she put a sheet underneath, and placing her chair upon that crawled through the hole."

It was obvious she had an accomplice because she couldn't have managed it alone. The police believed it was Ed Hogan, who was serving a drunk and disorderly sentence. He was a trustee and also turned up missing the next day. Pearl was captured in New Mexico several days later and returned to Tucson.

The plight of Pearl Hart won the hearts of many, especially women. She had no prior arrest and they felt she should not be put on trial, convicted and sentenced under a law she or her sex had no part in making. She captured their sympathy and used it to help win freedom. However, no one really knows who Pearl was, her personality changed to suit her moods. In the eyes of many she was a petite woman who couldn't possibly have committed the crime. Others saw her as a depraved, fallen women. Even Pearl's vocabulary alternated between Western phrases, gutter slang and that of an educated woman. Later, during her confinement, she wrote poetry which showed an educational background.

On November 25, 1899 Pearl stood trial for her part in the robbery and was acquitted. The judge was furious and dismissed the jury. He immediately rearrested her, calling in a new jury. This time Pearl was charged with a lesser crime, stealing the revolver from the stage driver. She could not stand trial again for the robbery itself.

The Arizona Sentinel reported, "the action which will be telegraphed all over the country is, however, likely to do the reputation of Arizona a considerable amount of injury, as it will confirm many eastern people in the that the people of Arizona have a sneaking sympathy for crimes…In these days of women's rights the question of sex should not be allowed to play any greater part in crime than it is supposed to do in merit and achievement."

Pearl at the age of 28, was convicted and sentenced to serve 5 years in the territorial prison at Yuma, Arizona, her accomplice, Joe Boot, was sentenced to 30 years. Throughout the trial Boot had maintained he did it only to help a lady in distress. Although both Boot and Pearl had a "death-do-us-part" vow, he escaped a few months later and was never heard of again. Pearl entered the prison on Nov 15, 1899. She was the 13th female prisoner and became #1559.

A letter arrived at the prison from Pearl's brother in law that confirmed her first story of why she committed the robbery. It said, "To the Sheriff- I see by the papers that you have Miss Pearl Hart in custody in Arizona for some misdemeanor. Now, as I am her brother in law, I am interested in her welfare. It has been a long time since we have heard from her, and we did not know what had become of her. I assure you that her mother would be glad to have her at home. I have seen her sit and cry when we were talking about Pearl and wondering what had become of her…Now, I would beg of you to be as easy as you can, for we have not dared to let her mother know that we have heard anything of her and much less that she is a prisoner, as she is troubled with heart disease and the news might affect her seriously…James T. Taylor"

Pearl was the only female prisoner for almost nine months. By the time she was granted a pardoned she was sharing her cell with 3 other women.

Pearl's sister and her mother petitioned the governor for a parole. They said if Pearl obtained a release she would have the opportunity to play a leading role on the Orpheum circuit. Her sister had written a play which would dramatize Pearl's experience as a stage robber.

The petition was convincing and Governor Alexander O. Brodie agreed to sign it if Pearl would leave Arizona. She accepted the terms and was released a little over two years from the day she entered the prison.

It was said Pearl left the prison in good health and free from opium addiction. No one knows if Pearl's stage appearance was successful. The end of her life appears to be as confusing and as much a mystery as the lady herself.

Excerpt from the book " Daughters of the West" by Anne Seagraves

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1800s Cattle Women-Kittie Wilkins

The following is an excerpt from the book "Daughters of the West", by Anne Seagraves.

In 1870, Kittie Wilkins built and empire that encompassed a large area of Southern Idaho, northern Nevada and eastern Oregon. She became an outstanding rancher and expert dealer in horses and often was called "The Horse Queen of Idaho," or "The Queen of Diamonds," due to her diamond brand.

Kittie was born in 1857 in Jacksonville, Oregon. Her parents, John R. and Laura Wilkins, were an ambitious couple who visited many boomtowns of the west before settling in Challis, Idaho, where they began raising cattle and horses. During her early years Kittie lived in several western states. John and Laura, however, never neglected their daughter's schooling. While her father taught her the horse trading business, Kittie's mother made sure she attended the finest schools. She grew into a well educated woman who could ride the range, carry out a shrewd business deal, or sit at the piano to entertain guests.

Kittie always claimed she got her start as a small child when two of her father's friends each gave her a $20 gold piece to invest. When her father became involved in the stock company, he used the money to buy Kittie a filly, which started her in business. She soon acquired her own herd that numbered between 700 and 800 horses. Kittie was an expert horsewoman, it was said she could ride anything with four feet on the ground, or anything with one foot on the ground and three feet in the air.

By the time she was 28, the Wilkins Company had moved to the Bruneau Valley of Owyhee County, Idaho. Although the outfit consisted of Kittie's father and her three brothers, she was the undisputed head of the company. She claimed every unbranded mustang on their range, which ran from the Humbolt River in Nevada, to the Snake River in Idaho, and from Goose Creek County in Idaho to the Owyhee River in Oregon. Kittie had the hardest working outfit west of the Mississippi River. Her boys were riding almost constantly as the ranch broke and shipped 154 horses every two weeks. The Wilkins riders became known as the finest in the world.

Kittie rode the open range with her cowhands, roping and saddle-breaking. The newspapers described her as a striking, blue-eyed blonde who rode a palomino the color of her hair. Seated upon a saddle that was mounted in silver and gold, Kittie was one with her horse as he flew over the rough terrain, rounding strays into the holding-corrals.

When traveling to the Eastern stockyards, Kittie took two trunks, one for here work-clothes and the other for her fancy outfits, which were worn with flair. Although she raised more than one eyebrow, the talented lady personally watched over her own horses, disdaining the idea that women were limited to playing the piano and attending tea parties. The herd was more important to her than the whispered gossip of others.

Because she was totally femine, Miss Wilkins never failed to create excitement as she entered the marketplace. While selling her horses, the lady pulled her golden hair up under a hat and dressed in skillfully tailored mannish attire, something that was unheard of in that era. Whatever her attire, however, Kittie knew her business. She found a way to move the abundant wild mustangs of the West to the horse-hungry markets of the East.

One time she brought 3,000 head with her to St. Louis, Missouri and auctioned them off herself turning a tidy profit. It was rumored that the beautiful woman could make a better deal than her male counterparts and in 1891, Kittie Wilkins was the only female in the United States whose sole occupation was horse dealing.

Once the horse trading was over, Kittie changed her male attire and met the press wearing the most stylish fashions. In 1895, during an interview, a reporter told his friends he was hardly prepared to meet the tall young woman "dressed in a svelte, tailor-made costume, her blonde curls surmounted by a dainty Parisian creation, who greeted him with perfect self-possession and invited him to be seated."

He said she was a strikingly handsome woman. In 1904, at the age of 46, Kittie visited San Francisco. During her stay, she was a guest of the city and awarded, "The Palm for Beauty," which meant she was the toast of the town.

Often a cowboy who rode over the large Wilkins spread looking for a job, was surprised to find that "Kit" Wilkins was a she not a he. At first many of the men weren't sure they wanted to work for a female. However, once they realized the beautiful lady could not only handle her horse, but would also ride beside them, they always hired on. All of her "boys" were paid $40 a month and board, and they were strong, rough riders. Kittie ruled with an iron hand. If a cowboy got out of line, he was immediately fired. In a magazine article, one her "hands" wrote: "If a man weren't a good rider when he went to work for Kit Wilkins, he was a good rider when he left of he wasn't riding at all-unless in a hearse."

Many of Kittie's riders hired on as apprentices, and, under her guidance, became excellent cowboys. A few of them went on to fame in the Wild West Shows and others performed in rodeos. High Strickland became a Champion of the World several times; Jess Coates rode before the King and Queen of England in a Command Performance, and Walter Scott became part of Buffalo Bill Cody's show, and then became known as Death Valley Scotty.

Kittie was king to her crew and earned their admiration as a skilled rider. She was not afraid of the unbroken horses and would enter the pens and manage the most unruly. She knew more about pedigrees than most women did about stylish clothes. With all her wealth and beauty, however, Kittie never married. It had been rumored she loved only one man. He was her top foreman and superintendent and they were reportedly engaged to be married. Unfortunately, he was killed while trying to remove and intruder from the Wilkins spread and Kittie was true to his memory the rest of her life.

Kit raised her horses on "Wilkins Island", a high plateau between what was then called "Kittie's Hot Hole" and the mining area of Jarbridge, Nevada. The Hot Hole was a natural hot springs at the bottom of a gorge, and today is known as "Murphy's Hot Springs." The Island was the company's headquarters where Kittie's "hands" built a corral that held the horses until they were shipped on to the eastern markets.

As Kittie rode the range and worked beside her cowboys, they shared a special camaraderie. Often, after a hard weeks work, she and her hands would ride into town and visit the local tavern for a bit of rest and frivolity. On one of these occasions, the Wilkin's boys were so carried away with their fun-making that someone "accidently" opened the corral gate and the entire herd of captured "dollars" escaped.

Mrs. Alice Hicks, of Mountain Home, Idaho, remembers both Kittie and the tavern, as her father, Elijah Fletcher, once worked for the Wilkins. In a letter, she described a day in which she and her brother rode into town with their father to buy beef. Kit was standing in the door of the tavern and she greeted Elijah in a friendly manner saying, "Hello Lige, come on in and join the boys." When her father left the children sitting in the wagon, Mrs. Hicks recalls being a bit upset because at that young age she considered a tavern a den of "sin."

Although respectable women of that period didn't enter a tavern, it must be remembered that Kittie Wilkins was not an ordinary woman. She was always a lady, but she lived by her own rules.

Kittie had a lively personality and was a polished publicist. Her news releases were consistent and timely. She never deviated from her original tale of how she got her start with the two $20 gold pieces. Kittie's beauty and her success stories made headlines from San Francisco to St. Louis. Reporters admired her and the public enjoyed reading about the charming woman who many called "The Golden Queen".

Her generosity extended beyond the welfare of the cowboys who rode beside her on the ranch. Kittie supported an orphanage in Salt Lake City, Utah, and she donated to a Catholic academy near San Francisco. When the boys were old enough to work, they were hired as hands for the Wilkins Company. Several of the girls were taken into Kittie's home to assist with the housework, and a few she sent on to further their education. Numerous letters of appreciation from those who Kittie helped are on file, along with her property deeds and old records.

As time passed and Kittie grew older, she may have tinted her hair a bit, but she never lost that inner spark that made her so special. When she died of a heart attack in 1935, at the age of 79, no one thought of Kittie as an old woman.

She is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain Home. There is a modest stone bearing a simple inscription in which her name, birth and death dates are followed by the words, "Horse Queen of Idaho."

Although Miss Wilkins was one of the best known women of her generation, there has been very little written about her. Bits and pieces of Kittie's colorful life have come from old newspaper articles, a few paragraphs here and there, and through the courtesy of the Elmore Historical Society in Mountain Home, Idaho.

If you enjoyed this story of Kittie Wilkins, please visit Women of Rodeo in the 1800's

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Women of Rodeo in the 1800's

Most women of the 1800's learned to ride out of necessity from helping on the ranch and practicing the skills of the range. From an early age, women could stay in the saddle, break a bronc and rope a steer.

In the late 1800's, the younger horsewomen began competing against males in a yearly gathering of herds -which progressed into participating in rodeo's.

The first rodeos began in the mid-1800 when thousands of cattle and horses were driven to town for the yearly round-up. The cowboys were eager for relaxation and would compete in tests of skills like roping, breaking horses, branding cattle and racing.

Women of the 1800, however, were not recognized in the arena until 1885.

The most famous cowgirl was Phoebe Ann Moses or Annie Oakley (pictured here).

Here are two stories of women who also helped start the movement of women in Rodeo's

(Stories are from the book "Daughters of the West" by Anne Seagraves.)

In 1897, Bertha Kaelpernick Blancett (pictured above) rode over 100 miles to enter a horse race in Cheyenne's Frontier Days and she was allowed to enter only because the arena was so muddy the cowboys refused to participate. Bertha was coerced into riding a bucking horse to keep the crowd from leaving. Once upon the animal, the petite girl had the ride of her life. Part of the time the horse was up in the air on his hind feet and once he fell backwards, but gutsy Bertha skillfully slid to his side and hung on. Although it was said at that time, that Bertha was a terrible bucker, she had managed to remain in the saddle, putting the cowboys to shame.

Later in 1904 Bertha became a star performer in Claude William's show and was a four time winner in Roman Racing at Pendleton. Bertha rode under men's rules, was seldom defeated and often beat such cowboys as Ben Corbett and Hoot Gibson.

Four years later Prairie Rose Henderson, an exuberant and talented daughter of a Wyoming rancher, rode to Cheyenne to enter a bronc busting contest. When the lady arrived, she was told, much to her chagrin that women were not permitted to ride. When Rose demanded to see the rules, she found there was no clause forbidding women to compete, and the officials were forced to let her participate. Her entrance into the arena created a sensation. Women had always been spectators, not competitors, and Miss Henderson was a colorful person. She came dashing out of the chute hanging on with all her strength and promptly lost the race. Prairie Rose, however, was really a winner, for she had opened the door to rodeo for other women to follow.

Later, Rose went on to victory in other rodeos and became one of the most flamboyant cowgirls of her era. In 1918, she entered the Gordon Nebraska rodeo wearing ostrich plumes over her bloomers and a blouse covered with bright sequins she had carefully sewn herself.

Rose eventually married a rancher and one cloudy day in 1932, Rose rode off to her last competition. This time, she faced her greatest fear, a storm, and lost her life during a blizzard. Prairie Rose's body was discovered nine years later and identified only by her champion belt buckle.

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The Women of the 1800's-Life on the Frontier

Women in the 1800’s took part in all facets of Frontier Life. The hardship of frontier life required that all members of the family take part to make ends meet. So, 1800 women mounted their horses to hunt with their husbands and also camp out for days. Some women even became cattlewomen. One such cattlewomen was Elizabeth E. Johnson.

*Elizabeth E. Johnson was born in Missouri in 1843. She moved to Hays County, Texas soon after her father had established the Johnson Institute there in 1852. Lizzie began teaching at the school when she was sixteen. Later she left to teach in schools at Manor, Lockhart, and Austin. Quietly she saved her money and added to her income by writing stories for Frank Leslie’s Magazine. As she accumulated money, she invested it. At one point she purchased $2,500 worth of stock in the Evans, Snider, Bewell Cattle Co. of Chicago. She earned 100 percent dividends for three years straight and then sold her stock for $20,000. On June 1, 1871, she invested the money in cattle and registered her own brand (CY) in the Travis County brand book along with her mark.

Lizzie Johnson’s wealth continued to grow. So did her responsibilities. In the summer of 1879, at the age of thirty-six, she married Hezkiah G Williams, a preacher and widower with several children. She continued to teach school in Austin, write magazine articles, and invest in cattle. She maintained control over her wealth, having had her husband sign a paper agreeing that all of her property remained hers. On his own, Hezkiah entered the cattle business in 1881, but he was a poor businessman who also liked to drink, and Lizzie had to keep pulling him out of financial trouble. At least twice Lizzie and Hezkiah traveled up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas. They rode behind the herd in a buggy drawn by a team of horses. This was about 1879, and Lizzie was the first woman to drive her own herd up the trail. For several years she and her husband, after coming up the trail, spent the fall and winter months in St. Louis, where Lizzie made extra money by keeping books for other cattlemen. When she died in 1924, at the age of 81 (her husband had died on 1914), Lizzie Johnson’s estate totaled more than $200,000, including large holdings in Austin real estate.

(*An excerpt from Emily Jones Shelton, “Lizzie E Johnson: A Cattle Queen of Texas” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol L (1947) pp 349-366)

The old west is filled with stories like this of men and women and their adventures on the trail. They worked hard for a living and expected their horse tack to work just as hard and last.

The styles of the old west tack and durability can be found at Buckaroo Leather. Buckaroo Leather carries old cowboy tack like, the Old West Bridle, Old Cowboy Style Headstall, Old West Martingale Breast Collar, and the Old Time Breast Collar/Choker.

The styles of the old time horse tack are not only appealing to the “old time cowboy” but like the horse tack of the 1800, the durability and quality is essential to the cowboy and the horse.

Check back for more stories from the 1800’s on women, cowboys, horse tack and saddles.

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the Western Horseman the safest most durable Quality
American made leather horse tack.......

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