Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-15
THE GIRLS OF MONTANA.
A Novel Class of WOmen-WOnderfully Self
Reliant and Independent.
francisco Chronicle

RELIANT anu
San Francisco Chronicle.
With the remarkable development of
the western territories has grown up a
class of women totally different from
their sisters in the states. The very fact
of being in new wild country, often left
alone to look after the herds and hocks,
has made them wonderfully self-reliant
and independent. / run across women
up in this country so full of pluck, grit,
and endurance, that l verify believe that
in stand-up fight with hostile indians or
marauding horse-thieves, they would
equal, man for man, to the same number
of cowboys or soldiers. These ladies, by
reason of their wild life on the frontier,
do not by any means lose all the gentle
ness and refinement of their sex. To be
sure they become somewhat roughened
by hardship and exposure, but through it
all they still preserve their womanly
traits, and when the necessity arises for
them to ride, hunt, or shoot, you will find
them there, and in the end perhaps a
little better off than many males would
be under similar circumstances.
There are all kinds of women in the
northwest. From the cultured DANES of
our best cities the grade runs all the way
down to the female road-agent. But as a
rule the girls of Montana are made of
the very best material to be had on the
continent. Scattered all over the broad
prairies of Montana are refined and cul-
tured women, bred in aif1uence and ease,
proud, young, and hopeful, called by the
misfortunes of their husbands, or led by
their desires to enter and achieve In new
fields the mission of life, to surrender So
ciety, the homes and scenes of their
youth, and march boldly to far off wilder
ness and endure privation, toll, labor and
suffering. But these women have grown
to be brave, industrious, selfrellant full
of pluck and energy, perfect horsewomen,
healthy, hearty, active, and independent,
and in many places about as pretty and
as plump as the very best of climate
can make them. Now, the typical Mon
tana girl, if let alone, will succeed where
an ordinary man would fail. With no
vices, they stick closely to business, and
if bent on tree claiming, homesteading,
or pre-empting quarter, half, or whole
section of land, they generally stay by
the claim to the end and prove up on
time.
Many of these enterprising damsels
wouldn't have a husband at any price.
Again, many, after laying the foundation
OF a comfortable fortune, are taken In by
some lazy bachelor who comes loafing
along, sees the chance, marries the maid
en-, and settles down into nice ready
made home. Our girls are bread winners,
and no mistake. They are up to all sorts
Of schemes, such as ranching, herding of
sheep Or cattle, school superintendent,
and even politics.
The latter should be expected, however,
as the females of Montana have the right
of suffrage extended to them in case they
happen to be taxpayers. AS nearly every
woman in the territory is a taxpayer,
why of couse she votes, as she has per
feet right to do.
In Bozeman, few miles west of here,
one can see plastered all over the town
placards appealing to the passerby to
"Vote for Hamilton, the peoples CHOICE"
or g Give your vote to Darcy" or "Vote
for Nichols and REFORM" Hamilton,
Nichols, and Darcy were candidates for
the school superintendency of the coun-
ty, and a fourth candidate was in the
feld-a man. 1t is needless to add that
"the horrid man" was beaten by all three
of the girls, Hamilton coming out away
ahead.
There is no question but what female
suffrage is benefit to Montana. Female
jurors in cases which involve intemper-
ance, breaches of promise, and gaming
would hang a culprit on moderate testi-
mony. Yet with all this, girls are scarce
in Montana. The town of Maiden near
by (the county seat of Fergus county,,
whose name is suggestive of w.t. beauty,
ETC., is, in fact, safe retreat for bachel-
ors, since there is not an unmarried lady
in the town. Sadie, whence these lines
are being penned, is community of for
lorn bachelors, with not a female within
a radius of fifteen miles, excepting the
Crow squaws in the neighboring Indian
village. One old bachelor wandering
around the village has $4,000 bank &C
count and no one to help him spend
it.