Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-10-10
PIONEER WOMAN
WRITES OF LIFE
IN THIS STATE
"a BRIDE GOES WEST" RECOUNTs
MAMIE TIFFANY ALDER
SONS EXPERIENCES

SONS EXPERIENCES
Another Montanan enters the rank
Of entertaining writers. Mamie Tif
fany Anderson who Is 80 years old ant
spent 90 years Of her life in Montani
has. with the help Of Helen Hunting
ton Smith, written the story Of her ex
periences in the west.
Born in the south, Mrs. Tiffany Al
derson came west with her husband
Walter Anderson, in 1888 and begai
her life as a bride in what was theI
the territory of Montana. Her frs
home was a log cabin on the banks o.
the Rosebud under the shadow OF thu
Wolf mountains, in the land OF the
Cheyenne Indians.
This daughter Of a Virginia slave
owner had been accustomed, ever
after the black man had been granted
his freedom, to be waited on by the
sons and daughters of her fathers
former chattels. She remarks casual
". in the course Of her story, that back
in Virginia there were always little
colored BOYS and girls to run errands
on the plantation. She who had never
washed q handkerchief or baked any
thing but a hot roll, started life as a
wife in what must have been for her
the hard way, or, for that matter, for
any woman.
Had Plenty To Do
She had to cook for half dozen
cowboys, wash and iron, make her own
clothes, keep dirt floor in condition,
and maintain amiable relations with
the CHEYENNE Indians who were any
thing but good Indians at times-they
burned down her home in revenge be-
cause a cowboy on the ranch had shot
a hole in q chiefs hat to show his
Workmanship chat story is recorded
in the news dispatches Of the Butte
press of the 8O's). She babe goodby
TO the "last sign Of civilization" when
she left Miles City on her way to her
husbands ranch on the Rosebud.
Reviewers of her book, which is en-
titled "a Bride Goes West" remark
that Mamie Anderson, the author, us
one Of the last generation Of Ameri-
can women who we're pioneers" When
that generation passes those who are
curious about living conditions in
Montana in territorial days viii have
to depend, for their information, on
Mrs. Alderson's book.
No Women Companions
Conditions as she describes them
were certainly tough although she
seems to have adjusted herself to the
new environment except that she
could never accustom herself to speak
of her husband by his first name
because that is the way we address
servants in the south" For months
on months her only contacts were with
her husbands ranch hands or with the
Indians; not a single woman within
miles of her residence. Her home was
two days journey away from a groc-
erv store. She raised four children on
an Isolated ranch where doctors were
a novelty. She learned that lambast-
ing naughty kiddieS was resented by
Indian mammas-even when the hddie |
was the child of the lambaster.
Mrs. Alderson's father, Captain
Hugh Tiffany, was killed at the first
battle of Manassas and was said to be
the first southern officer to fall In the
war between the states. Her mother
married a second time and her step
brother, Andrew Rowan, won fame in
he Spanish American war by carry
ng the famed message to Garcia.
Helen Huntington Smith, who acts
IS Mrs. Alderson's amanuensis, is well
Qualified for her task, it is apparent. !
She it was who elaborated with
Teddy Blue, Granville Stuart's cow
10Y, and later his son-in-law, in the |
ompilation Of the material in the .
ook, I'VE Pointed Them North
recalls Many Incidents
Mrs. Anderson, despite her age, Is
redited with a remarkable memory. 4
Ter recollectionS include the strike =
/ the Chicago stock yards, in the SOS,
s well as the "big freeze" In Montana, q
ne manners and dress Of the cowboys Z
nd the behavior Of Pack Saddle y
ack," range character, her reactions v
, her first contact with q rattleSnake, :
er experiences as patient in the =
ands Of an amateur dentist, her first al
Getting with a woman of the under a.
orld-who was masquerading as -
oman of good repute-in Miles City, p
le first mule colt foaled on her hus- -
Ind's ranch, the intense cold of an .
stern Montana winter the loss Of F.
II silver candle-sticks in the fire K
lich the Indians started and n
lich destroyed her home, the bed =
gs and the pioneer methods of war NJ
lg against them and a thousand and =.
lie other things that made up her ;
e on Montana cattle ranch. Al
The book, "a Bride Goes West" .,
ould be Of particular interest to .
Ontana women since Mrs. Anderson VI
res an almost month-by-month &C
unit Of the conditions under which I.E
yes lived in eastern Montana in the
Us before the Indian was out Of -
e ground" No light but kerosene -
nps, no means of communication sA
cept by messenger or mail or per- -.
nal contact, no means Of travel but -
In those days the rancher
lit his own house and made his own -
to a considerable ex-
1t looked after his own health and IN
at Of his family.
~
lace Soon Provided :.