These aren't the women who built the west.Not nurses or teachers or crusaders for women'srights, they rarely show up in history books.They are a different breed of women.Adventurous and rebell
These aren't the women who built the west.
Not nurses or teachers or crusaders for women's
rights, they rarely show up in history books.
They are a different breed of women.
Adventurous and rebellious, they strayed outside
the permitted and undertook the unexpected.
Most of the women who came to the west coast of Canada between the time of the gold rush and the 1940s settled in Vancouver or Victoria, or in the growing towns in the interior valleys. Out beyond the cities, a different world existed. Imaginative, determined, often raucous and sometimes raunchy, women in the wilds did what they wanted to do.
They ran traplines, hotels and bawdy houses, prospected for gold, lived in the wilderness, and married as many times as they wanted or not at all.
In this new edition, complete with a new foreword, Rosemary Neering tells the stories of the strength, independence and sheer determination of women such as Lillian Alling, who tried to walk home to Russia; and Evelyn Penrose, who divined for water, oil and criminal tendencies. Madam, prospector, writer, each of these amazing individuals lived a life that challenged the rules most women lived by.
Rosemary Neering has long been fascinated by the oft—hidden achievements of the women who defied the domestic path prescribed for women in the 19th and early 20th century Canadian west, and set off to their own adventurous and often rebellious destinations. Trolling through archival records and half—forgotten memoirs, she delighted in uncovering the stories of these women, be they prospectors, prostitutes or pilgrims, incomers or indigenous, and always fascinating.
She is the author of many books on the history and byways of British Columbia, including A Traveller's Guide to Historic British Columbia, recently revised and republished, and Down the Road: Journeys through Small Town British Columbia, as well as books on smugglers, Spanish explorers and Pig War participants. She takes any opportunity to head out once more on the less travelled roads of the province.
She lives in Victoria with her partner Joe Thompson, where she makes hand—built one of a kind pottery, plays tennis, gardens, and tries to emulate the spirit of her Wild West Women.
View Biographical note
