Page:The Souvenir of Western Women.djvu/9



HE SOUVENIR OF WESTERN WOMEN bears upon its pages a complex picture of the works and pioneer experiences of the women in the Pacific Northwest—the "Old Oregon" country—from the time of woman's first appearance in these unexplored wilds to the present day.

The purpose of this book is to record woman's part in working out the plan of our Western civilization; no other civilization, perhaps, bearing so conspicuously the imprint of her hand and her brain. In coming to this country through all the perils, privations, and hardships of the longest journey ever made by a migratory people in search of homes, she marched side by side with man. Upon arriving here she could acquire equally with him a part of the public domain (the first instance of the kind on record).

In patience, courage, and endurance, woman proved man's equal. In her ability to cope with strenuous conditions, she was again his recognized peer. The powers thus engendered within her must perforce have left an indelible impression on the body politic. Their dominance is apparent in our colleges and universities, all of which are builded upon co-education as a corner-stone, and all of which also accept women as co-members of the faculty.

From the beginning of statehood in all the states carved out of the "Old Oregon" country, women have been admitted to the practice of the professions on an equality with men. In the legislative halls woman's voice has been heard, and some of our most salutary laws owe their origin to her thought.

In property rights woman enjoys far greater privileges here than in the older portions of our country. These Northwestern States are among the few in the nation that make the mother a legal custodian of her children, and entrust her with the property of minor heirs. From a national point of view greater yet is the outcome of woman's presence here. To the pioneer woman — without whom permanent settlement could not have been made—the nation owes the very possession of this great Western territory.

Captain Gray made the discovery of the Columbia River (1792), and this discovery laid claim to the vast tract drained by it and its tributaries. Lewis and Clark, led by the "Birdwoman," marked the way to it across the continent (1805). The good missionaries brought to its wild native peoples, thirty years later, the "White Man's Book of Heaven," the forerunner of civilization; but the combined effort of all these could not have held this country for the United States had it not been for the pioneer American women, who.