Ho for California!
Women's Overland Diaries from the Huntington Library
edited and annotated by Sandra
L. Myres
THE FIVE DIARIES presented here reflect the experiences of five different
women, on three of the major westward routes in the middle of the
nineteenth century—across Panama in 1849, the California or northern
route in the 1850s, and the Gila or southern trail in the post–Civil
War period. As individual as the women who wrote them, the diaries
are alike in one respect: they explode the stereotype of the westering
woman. The reader will find neither the sunbonnet saint, striding
grimly forward undaunted by the dangers ahead, nor the timorous and
reluctant voyager living in dread of Indians and wild beasts. The
self-perceptions of these women are as varied as those of male writers,
as these diaries vividly illustrate. Women's diaries are comparatively
rare, and this book includes five of unusual interest. They reveal
yet another aspect of America's frontier saga.
From the introduction:
Perhaps no mass movement in history has been better recorded than
the great migration of Americans across the continent during the 1840s,
50s, and 60s. Beginning with the first explorations of the Louisiana
Territory, gaining momentum with the opening of Oregon, swelling into
a "rush" with the California gold discoveries, thousands
of Americans and foreign settlers and tourists followed the major
routes westward. Yet until recently little was written about women
on the trails. "Westering" was supposed to be a male enterprise,
full of hardships, unsuitable for the "weaker" sex. But
women were part of the westward migration, and their experiences,
recorded in diaries, letters, and reminiscences, are an important
part of trail literature.
Of the hundreds of books written about the westering experience,
a few have become literary and historic classics, but none, with the
possible exception of those by Susan McGoffin and Sarah Royce, was
written by a woman. Our perceptions of westering women have been shaped
by male writers who did not read what women themselves wrote about
the west. Or, if they did read the many journals and reminiscences
written by women, they chose to ignore them in favor of more dramatic
legends and myths. Thus westering women became the protagonists of
a stereotyped version of the west as false as that of the Hollywood
Indian. The redman rides into the sunset, tall, bronzed, stoic, crowned
with an eagle feather warbonnet. The white woman strides westward
with grim-faced determination, clad in gingham, wreathed in a sunbonnet,
baby at breast, bravely awaiting unknown dangers while she yearns
for home and hearth. And, in recent years, a new picture of the westering
woman has emerged from the writings of feminist historians. She is
the trail drudge, reluctant companion, and overworked helpmate following
wearily after the wagons. Preoccupied with death, resentful of male-imposed
rules, she performs unaccustomed tasks, gathers buffalo chips, and
cooks and washes while her strong male companion lolls before the
fire, smoking his pipe and "betting how many miles we had covered
during the day."
Neither stereotype is true. Women, like men, were neither saints
nor sinners. Some did wear gingham and sunbonnets; others preferred
bloomers and hunting shirts. Some had large families; some gave birth
along the way; some were single and carefree. Some were resentful
of performing new chores imposed by trail conditions; others embraced
the new freedom from woman's "place." Different women experienced
different conditions, reacted in different ways to the westward journey.
Westering, as revealed in the diaries of both men and women, was neither
a male adventure nor a female endurance test. It was a human experience
in which all—men, women, and children—participated as individuals.
Women's perceptions of themselves and their companions are as varied
as those of male writers.
The diaries which follow reflect five different women's experiences
on three of the major westward routes—the Panama route, the California
Trail, and the southern or Gila Trail. The introduction to each section
briefly discusses the route, and the footnotes and annotations compare
the diarists' comments with those of other travelers on the same route.
Each trail had its own particular perils and pleasures. Each offered
some magnificent scenery, some unexpected joys and respites from the
dreary monotony of slow, daily travel. Each had its own hardships
of terrain and climate which must be overcome. Together, these five
diaries and the comparative comments present an overall woman's picture
of the westering experience.
Praise for Ho for California!:
"The journals . . . present a day by day report from a woman's
point of view, and are especially valuable because they include insights
seldom given by male diarists. This well organized and handsomely
designed volume is an important primary resource and a valuable addition
to the library of any collector of Western Americana."—California
History
"'Tween Decks on an Early Panama Steamer"
Helen Carpenter
(Selections from her diary are featured in the section
"A Trip Across the Plains in an Ox Wagon, 1857")
Picacho Peak, Near Tucson, by William Hays Hilton
David S. and Maria H. Shrode
(her diary comprises the final section of the book).
Copyright © 2003, Huntington Library Press.
All rights reserved.
E-mail: booksales@huntington.org
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