Gathering Cow Chips

Going West was hard for everyone, but women faced extra difficulties. Besides abandoning a familiar home and surroundings, the physical demands of travel could also take a heavy toll. Passengers in a wagon might have to walk a good portion of the time, to spare the livestock and lighten the load. Long skirts were confining and difficult to keep clean during travel. Thunderstorms drenched a woman’s wagon and all her possessions, blazing sun burned her  body and dried her  skin, and the endless wind could leave all of her family parched for water. Along the way, a woman might lose a baby or child. Then she would be forced to leave the body in a grave, to never see again.

Women were remarkably brave and cheerful through these trials. Here is a journal entry by Mary Richardson Walker in 1838: “In the afternoon we rode 35 miles without stopping…but[when I] came to get off my horse, almost fainted. Laid as still as I could till after tea, then felt revived. Washed my dishes, made my bed & rested well.” (From Women of the West by Cathy Luchetti & Carol Olwell)

Mormons on Their Way West

Pioneer Women

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