This is a beautifully written book which recounts the struggles and triumphs of some amazing women who lived about 100 years ago and who played an important part in the development of our country.

From the records that have been preserved, Nancy Wilson Ross has made these women come alive: Sacajawea, the young Indian girl who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition; Narcissa Whitman, the first woman to cross the "impassable barrier" of the Rocky Mountains; Mary Richardson Walker, the young missionary who spent her honeymoon traveling on horseback across the unfamiliar land west of the Rockies; Sister Mary Loyola, who with five other nuns endured a hazardous voyage from Belgium and a dangerous life in Oregon in order to bring Christianity to the Indians; and Abigail Scott Duniway, the suffragette who fought for equal rights for women.

From the diaries and letters of these brave women, we learn a great deal about what life was like during the long months of the western journey and the first years of hardship and loneliness on the farthest frontier. We also realize, as we read this fascinating book, that if these female pioneers had not had the courage and the strength to travel thousands of miles across unknown land to set up housekeeping among wild animals and savage Indians, the United States might not be the size and shape it is today.

From the book