The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-12
NEW WOMEN IN THE WEST.
-,cprryEMENTs TO BE PROUD
~ THE TERRITORIES.

--,, Ths, Made Nr-' M"r'os Phe'ps 40
---.u.., cold Min,nR Prospsctor-A1,s-
-. Success with q R~snch-Catus
-,,,,e- Bsmed by = Jersey Woman
-. x,r.ut,s I'm counter with Apnehes.
~ cal, April 4.-Therc are several
foA,s NJ women on the plains and among
fountains and cafions in the far West
inc h..orye to I've we'll up oward the top OF
"o ,.ioyue Of those who have succeeded In
n y, human energy for years occupied ex.
ru, he men, While women In the East are
o oua' .uccess In the professions, in business,
A. ,..das. alongside OF their husbands and
.,..s there are women In every part OF the
S., ,bo are not onlv adapting themselves to
-. and strange environments, but also win
sin, fortune and fame In pursuits that were
.na,rb, IN I've out Of the question for women
sJas.n veors ago. As q rule, the new woman
=, ,bs lonely mountains and ranges of the
~, has been called upon to dare much in
...,ia- davs, and by force Of circumstances
s. COME 10 make the most Of the disagree
.h,e things about her. The immigration into
,ho Territories in the last two decades from
New England and the Middle States has de-
,eloned many u heroine. An army of young
xnmen. carefully and tenderly reared in old
fashioned homes in the East, have come to
the southwest with husbands and brothers.
and when they have adapted themselves to
,boir new situations, and nerved themselves
IN n brsye struggle for a livelihood in a strange
land. remote from everything connected with
their early training, some picturesque and ex-
,raordinary results have been brought about.
For instance. there is the case OF Mrs. Marion
pbelps. who has become an excellent gold min
ing prosepctor In the Globe region in southern
Arizona, Ex-Gov. Wolfey of Arizona is author
Inv for the statement that she Is as good a Judge
AZ there Is In the Southwest Of the value of
ledse s OF low-grade gold ore. Her husband
was a graduate of a New England scientific
school, and. marrying when but 22 years of
age, he came West with his young wife. He
soon sank all his little fortune in a placer mine
that had been abundantly sailed for his bene-
ft. His wife tramped over the mountains,
travelled across burning deserts, lived in
lonely cafoue. camped on bleak and barren
mountain sides, slept in the chaparral, and
dwelt among indian for several years. while
young Phelps searched for gold mines. Mrs.
Phelps shared every hardship with her husband,
and In time she developed into q correct and
quick observer OF pay rock, and became as we'll
versed as any one IN that region in all the for
nations Of auriferous rocks. the slant, frangi-
Dllty, ana UP VI lcuRcs. htT huSDhnu
fell from a cliff one day in Williams Cafon and
was killed. the young woman was left with two
small children and q few dollars. During the
years that she and her husband had been barely
,ubsisting while they prospected for mines
neither o. them had ever written to a relative in
the East about their condition and their struggle
with poverty. Not q word did she write now
about her distress. Pride Is a powerful char
acteristic in the new woman of the West.
With the help of several miner friends Mrs.
Phelps built a rude cabin. sufficient for COM
fort In the semi-tropic ATTITUDES of Arizona,
and with her own hands cultivated an area of
valley land about her cabin. She grew vege-
tables, and made a market for all she could
raise at the mining town of Globe, a few miles
sway. She never lost her interest in seeking
mines, and when her children were a year or
two older. and could be left with others. she
vent forth 10 prospect through Williams Canon,
where she and her husband had once found
evidence Of gold bearing rock. She prospected
there for several weeks at q time during the
summer, going back to her cabin home ocoa
s,onally TO look after her children and their
Indian squaw nurse and to cultivate anew her
vegetable farm. Along in the fall she To-
Gated two claims, selling one for SO, 900.
This gave her the capital she needed, and
from the day in March, 1890, when the money
was paid her. she has been an assayer and an
expert in low grade gold quartz. Her opinions
ere sought after from Yuma to Albuquerque.
and she earns a good competence every year
in fees from Eastern people. who have conf
eence that what she tells them about gold
mines is trustworthy. In some cases she gets
as high as 500 for a few days time. Her
children are in school at Los Angeles. and she
has II pretty homo at Tucson.
Then there is Miss Amelia Dunn. who Is re-
garled in the region of Prescott as the most
ole in the Territories knows about Nellie
Dunn and her. success among cattle, and
about Miss 'Melie's broncos and cattle is not
started on the rounds of the rural press In Art
70, iSsH v S1d New Sf I EemiTs, + yhs e. Dn Mr' f pann fr fSs
father. was an invalid with consumption. and
he settled at Deming and bought cattle, be-
and keep him out of doors at the same time.
That was in 1877, when Miss Nellie was a little
tot of II girl.
After a long and hard experience with ma
raudlng Pimas. who at different times stole
three-tourths of the little herd of cattle on the
that they died u thousand deaths while barri-
eaded fer a week at a time In the dug-out eel
lar under the rude ranch home; Mr.. Dunn
was Il years old her father died. She had
been with him almost daily for several years
IN his rides across the mesas, among. the foot
hills. and through the ~arroyos, 30 she was as
well informed about the cattle business as
her father. 1t was natural that when he died
she became his successor. 1t took several years
for the girl TO develop good business sense
10 know beef values, when to sell her stock.
when to ship, and how to Craze her herd most
economically. She was apt. and before she
was 81 years old her opinion was authority
among the cattle men in that region. She
knows every detail OF the ranch work; and has
performed some part of all phases OF the career
ola cowboy OF the Southwest.
The last ten years have at times been sorry
ones for many an experienced cattle ranchman
IN the drought-stricken regions of the South
west, but Nellie Dunn has had tho foresight to
Drive her beeves to valleys where the beasts
have fattened while thousands of other cattle
nave died OF exhaustion and starvation. The
young wOman's duties as vaquero and propri-
epr or some 900 cattle often take her 100
shu .OO or more miles from homo across sandy
wastes and among the foothills and noun
Slhs, as the cattle must be kept moving to
iced well. Frequently during the rainy sea-
soh some Of the cattle become mired in the
mud along creeks where they Craze, or where
.ney wade In TO drink. Then comes the hard
~ ! part OF the work. With true cowboy skill
sie throws the lariat over the slender branch;
ns horns, while the other end of the long and
p~hehomenally strong rawhide rope is fastened
~ The saddle; Then a steady pull on the part
nj ue pony draws the imprisoned ANNA, to-a
b Eard OF safety on dry ground. She has a large