I’ve been intrigued with the westward movement ever since I was six, when my parents, my brother and sister, and I went west from Virginia to Colorado in a 1939 Plymouth. For years, I’ve wanted to write a novel about a strong group of women on the Overland Trail during the gold rush days. The problem was finding my story, and when I finally did, it was a mishmash. Thanks to my agent, Danielle Egan-Miller, for making me switch from a cast of thousands to a focused approach. Thanks to the wonderful people at St. Martin’s Press—Elisabeth Dyssegaard, who suggested I further condense and clarify the tale; Jennifer Enderlin, who always has my back; and Alan Bradshaw and India Cooper, for final editing. I’m grateful to writer friends Arnie Grossman, Wick Downing, and Harry MacLean for their encouragement. I’m indebted to Will Bagley, one of the West’s premier historians, for his input. Will helped me keep Overland Trail history straight by suggesting a number of changes and corrections. He also pointed out that too many men in the story are bad guys. So?
I can’t say it often enough that my family is my strength—Bob, Dana, Kendal, Lloyd, and Forrest. My sister, Mary Dallas Cole, props me up with her love and support. I am blessed to have her and my brother, Michael Dallas, to whom this book is dedicated. Mike was an exceptional high school English teacher in Clear Creek County, Colorado, who made a difference in the lives of so many students. Although unpublished, he is the better writer in the family.
I’ve written about western history for fifty years. Still, Westering Women required considerable research. These are some of the best Overland Trail sources I used:
The Great Platte River Road: The Covered Wagon Mainline via Fort Kearny to Fort Laramie. By Merrill J. Mattes. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1969.
With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails to the Mining West, 1849–1852. By Will Bagley. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012.
The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840–60. By John D. Unruh, Jr. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1979.
Hard Road West: History and Geology along the Gold Rush Trail. By Keith Heyer Meldahl. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
The California Trail: An Epic with Many Heroes. By George R. Stewart. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1840–1890. Vols. 1–11. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark, 1983–1993.
Overland Days to Montana in 1865: The Diary of Sarah Raymond and Journal of Dr. Waid Howard. Edited by Raymond W. and Mary Lund Settle. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark, 1971.
The Shirley Letters: Being Letters in 1851–1852 from the California Mines. By Dame Shirley (Louise A. K. S. Clappe). Santa Barbara, CA: Peregrine Press, 1970.
Covered Wagon Days: A Journey across the Plains in the Sixties, and Pioneer Days in the Northwest; from the Private Journals of Albert Jerome Dickson. Edited by Arthur Jerome Dickson. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
Journal of a Trip to California: Across the Continent from Weston, Mo., to Weber Creek, Cal., in the Summer of 1850. By Charles W. Smith. Publisher not listed.
A Frontier Lady: Recollections of the Gold Rush and Early California. By Sarah Royce. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1932.