The pilgrimage West was an arduous undertaking. Emigrants hurriedly loaded their wagon trains with…
Author Archives: Chris Enss
Chris Enss is a New York Times Bestselling author who writes about women of the Old West.
How The West Was Worn: Corsets
On August 24, 1863, San Francisco’s elite flocked to Maguire’s Opera House. Ladies wearing diamo…
How The West Was Worn: Hats
In the 1850s, outfits for women and men were topped off with a hat. Most children and all adults wor…
How The West Was Worn: Bloomers
Maneuvering through the dusty streets and rough terrain of the Wild West proved women’s complicate…
How The West Was Worn: Annie Blanche
A magnificent palomino carried its rider past a regiment of soldiers marching toward their quarters …
Wild Women Of The West: Fannie Sperry Steele
Pioneer award winning rodeo performer. Such a title conjures up images of courage, stamina, and old…
COWGIRL Iconic: Faye Blesing
Skillful and graceful trick rider Faye Blesing and her Palomino horse Flash raced by excited fans at…
Wild Women Of The West: Era Gertrude Chinn
The discovery of gold in California in 1849 sparked a raging fever in thousands of Argonauts hoping …
Wild Women Of The West: Alice Ivers
The faces around the poker table in “Poker Alice’s” gambling house in Deadwood, South Dakota, …
Wild Women Of The West: Alice Sisty
A hush fell over the large crowd at the rodeo arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, in July 1938 as daredev…
Wild Women Of The West: Matrimonial News
“Marriage is such an ancient institution and has in all ages excited such universal interest among…
Wild Women Of The West: Happy Ever After
Business for matrimonial publications between 1870 and 1900, increased substantially whenever storie…
Wild Women Of The West: Patsy Montana
In 1939, a petite singer from Hot Springs, Arkansas, named Patsy Montana, made her screen debut in t…
Wild Women Of The West: Jane Novak
Silent motion-picture actor William S. Hart starred opposite the beautiful and talent actress Jane N…
COWGIRL Iconic: Mattie Goff Newcombe
A mammoth crowd of Westerners gathered at the Black Hills Roundup in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, in…
Wild Women Of The West: Nell O’Day
Nell O’Day, one of the first ladies of B-Westerns, was the spunky, hard riding heroine of thirteen…
Wild Women Of The West: Bessie Barriscale
Between 1914 and 1926, roper, rider, and actress Bessie Barriscale dazzled silent film fans in a ser…
Wild Women Of The West: Victoria Forde
When news that cowgirl and silent film actress, Victoria Forde, had left her husband Western star, T…
Wild Women Of The West: Ruth Roland
Reel cowgirl Ruth Roland portrayed Pearl Marvin in a dozen silent films in The Perils of Pauline ser…
Wild Women Of The West: Gail Davis
Between 1954 and 1957, actress Gail Davis portrayed famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley in the televisi…