Governor John St. John, with the backing of the national Woman's Christian Temperance Union, forced the legislature to pass a constitutional...
Dry Kansas!
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Jana Bommersbach
Bricks of Earth
The first “home sweet home” for many early pioneers was a soddie—a house built from two-feet-thick “bricks of earth,” cut from the prairie sod The...
Doing the “Unthinkable”
That was Ann Eliza Webb, the 19th wife of Brigham Young. She did the unthinkable and divorcing the head of the Mormon Church—a “living prophet” who...
The Biggest Buffalo Buff
Buffalo are still roaming the American West—even in Arizona. Outside the buffalo wildlife ranges in Raymond, east of Flagstaff, and House Rock, east...
Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist
That was “Nellie Bly,” the “stunt reporting” woman who made her name in the late 1800s, mostly for traveling around the world in 72 days, beating...
The Most Detested Day on the Frontier
Was laundry day! Sometimes it was Mondays, but more than not, Wednesdays. First, women had to make the lye soap; then they had to haul water,...
The First Ronstadt Superstar
It wasn't Linda Ronstadt, although the Tucson, Arizona singer was a superstar until her retirement in 2011—11 Grammy Awards, 3 American Music...
Mother’s Day Revisited
As every good daughter and son remembered their mother on May 10, it's good to recall that determined American women are responsible for both...
What a Teenager
The name is very familiar, but what this teenaged girl did—and what she meant to the...
Opulence, Your Name is Cheyenne
As in the Cheyenne Club—the private cattlemen's club in Wyoming Territory that was “over the top” in every way. It sat like a beacon on Seventeenth...
Oh, The Homestead
The American West was built on the Homestead Act of 1862, President Lincoln's plan to encourage development of western lands. It provided 160-acre...
She Rests in Arizona
She was called the Mexican Joan of Arc; she was called the Saint of Cabora—she was a teenaged healer who inspired a revolution against the Mexican...