“Women of the Western Trails” presentation by Dr. Sara Jane Richter

The Western Trail Historical Society invites you to attend “Women of the Western Trails” on Tuesday, March 5, at the Museum of the Western Prairie in Altus. The program will be presented by Dr. Sara Jane Richter who is the dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. Dr. Richter will tell the stories of women who did not want to pack up and head west to start a home but had to do so. Their fathers, husbands, and brothers took out for parts unknown, and naturally, their women folks had to go along. Women knew they would encounter unusual, difficult, and frightening experiences on the western trails such as the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe. They were not disappointed. Besides coping with the difficulties of the traveling, women had to do what they always did: cook, clean, mend, and heal. These oftentimes boring jobs were hard to do in the unpredictable wilderness. However, in spite of females having to make do to get along, they became the real tamers of the West. For without their ingenuity and stubbornness, the American West might have taken a few decades more to become “civilized.”

The program begins at 7 p.m. Hosted by the Western Trail Historical Society, the event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.