In 1851, leaders of the new movement for women’s suffrage appeared in public wearing such an outfit—which they called the Freedom Dress. One suffragist wrote, “Women are in bondage. Their clothes are a great hindrance to making them independent.” Some suffragists used the costume to symbolize their campaign for women’s right to vote.
Women brave enough to wear the Reform Dress found it practical and comfortable. A farmwife who wore a Reform Dress while helping her husband clear timber wrote, “Clothe yourselves in freedom’s dress, despite the scoffs and sneers of the public.”
Like Emma, however, most people found the Reform Dress scandalous. Some accused reformers of acting “mannish.” Others laughed at them or decided they had “loose morals.”
Suffragists who wore the Reform Dress received so much scorn that most gave up the costume, fearing it would hurt their main goal of gaining women the right to vote. Public ridicule did not kill the dress reform movement, though. Some women wore the Reform Dress as they worked in the privacy of their homes or farms. And a few—like Emma’s mother—believed that women would never be accepted as men’s equals as long as their clothing prevented them from working and moving freely. These women found the courage to continue wearing their trouser costumes in public.
But by the mid-1860s, the dress reform movement had started to decline. The Civil War and the difficulties of rebuilding the nation afterward overshadowed other issues such as women’s rights. American women didn’t gain the right to vote until 1920—and it wasn’t truly acceptable for them to wear pants in public until the 1930s.
During the Civil War, however, many women became involved in new ventures. Thousands kept farms and businesses running while men fought in the war. Some northern women, like Emma’s mother, gained self-confidence and business experience by volunteering with the U.S. Sanitary Commission. This national organization worked to ensure clean and healthy conditions in Union army camps. Volunteers collected tons of food and medical supplies and raised more than $30 million, mostly by holding “Sanitary Fairs.” These grand bazaars featured donated items for sale, restaurants, art galleries, military exhibits, bands, and parades. The fairs drew huge crowds and made up to $1 million.
When the war ended, many women were content to return to their former roles as wives and mothers. But others, like Mrs. Henderson, enjoyed their jobs and didn’t want to give them up. The sparsely settled western territories beckoned women and men eager for new opportunities.
At the time of Emma’s story, miners had been prospecting in Colorado for almost a decade. New gold strikes still created excitement—such as the discovery of a few nuggets in a partially dug well in 1862—but the first frenzy of gold fever had passed. Many men still headed to Colorado, however, to look for gold or to work in established mines. Shopkeepers like Mr. Boggs, saloon owners like Blackjack, freighters like Mr. Torkelson, and other businesspeople all hoped to make their livings by providing services that miners needed. Meanwhile, families like Jeremy’s traveled west looking for good farmland at affordable prices.
And wherever miners and farmers and businesses went, a newspaper editor was sure to follow. In 1867 one editor wrote, “American pioneers carry with them the press and the type, and wherever they pitch their tent, be it in the wilderness of the interior, among the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra or on the sunny sea beach of the Pacific, there too must the newspaper appear.”
Newspapers did more than publish the news. They gave a sense of stability to tiny communities struggling to get established. Promoters worked hard to “boom” their towns by sending guidebooks, picturesque maps, and carefully composed newspaper editions east to attract new settlers—just as Jeremy’s father hopes to do. If a small town failed, as many did, people who had invested in land sometimes lost their life’s savings. Unscrupulous speculators like Mr. Spaulding published wildly exaggerated claims about their towns, much to the dismay of the new settlers they attracted.
Most newspaper editors were men—but there were a few women, too. The earliest women editors usually learned the newspaper business from their husbands, as Mrs. Henderson did. Girls of Emma’s age were sometimes hired as typesetters because their fingers were small and nimble enough to handle the tiny pieces of type.
Western newspaper editors experienced many of the problems Emma and her mother face in the fictional town of Twin Pines. They struggled to get newsprint and ink and sometimes improvised with makeshift materials. One mischief-maker stole an editor’s press lever, just as Mr. Spaulding does. And in a few cases, readers who disagreed with what they read in a newspaper physically attacked the editor. More than one newspaper staff worked with rifles at the ready.
Despite such hardships, three Colorado women ran newspapers in the 1870s. In 1880 Caroline Romney had a press hauled to Durango, where she worked from a tent.
In the West, these women found freedoms they might not have had back east, where there were more workers than jobs. On isolated ranches and in tiny towns, women like Mrs. Henderson, Tildy Pearce, and Miss Amaretta helped create the new West. And like Emma, many of them came to appreciate the choices that living on the western frontier provided.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Twin Pines is a fictional place, but it resembles a number of small towns that grew in the Colorado foothills. Visiting the Colorado History Museum, the Golden Pioneer Museum, or Clear Creek History Park in Golden can provide glimpses of this fascinating time. And a walk through one of the Open Space parks, such as the City of Boulder’s Doudy Draw, or Jefferson County’s Elk Meadow or White Ranch Park, makes it easier to imagine the landscape as it was in 1867.
Thanks are due to Joan Severa, Curator Emeritus, Wisconsin Historical Society, who introduced me to the Reform Dress many years ago; and to Tracy Honn, Director of Silver Buckle Press at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for demonstrating how a Washington Hand Press works. I’m also indebted to many people who shared their knowledge of Colorado’s colorful history with me, including Michelle Zupan, Curator of Golden Pioneer Museum; Jim Wenzel, Interpretive Manager of Clear Creek History Park; Al Mosch, co-owner of the Phoenix Mine; and the photoarchivists of the Western History Photography Collection, Denver Public Library.
And as always, I’m grateful for the support of my family, my writing group, and the wonderful team at Pleasant Company.
About the Author
Kathleen Ernst is a bestselling novelist, historian, and educator who writes for adults and kids. Her books for young readers include fifteen novels for American Girl. She created Caroline Abbott, the company’s newest historical character, and has written seven books about her. Ernst also writes the Chloe Ellefson Mysteries for adults and mature teens. Honors for her work include Edgar and Agatha Award nominations and an Emmy Award in children’s programming. Visit her at www.kathleenernst.com.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text Copyright © 2002 by Kathleen Ernst
Map Illustration by Jean-Paul Tibbles
Line Art by Greg Dearth
Cover design by Amanda DeRosa
ISBN: 978-1-4976-4665-0
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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