Pioneer Women of Oregon
By Anne Shannon Monroe
(Author of "Singing in the Rain")
The development of no state in the West has a finer base in its pioneer women than has Oregon.. . . As are the roots, so will be the blossoms,—and Oregon's roots are of sturdy fibre and go deep in the virgin soil.. . . In the beginning, there was Sacajawea, the Indian woman who as guide, made the way to the coast through warring tribes possible for Lewis and Clark.. . . Later, there was Narcissa Whitman, the young bride of Marcus Whitman, the Presbyterian missionary about whose name war is still waged as to whether he did or did not save Oregon to the Union; but the heroism of whose wife, giving her life for the planting of Gospel teaching in the raw new West, is not disputed. . . Later still there were the mothers of two of America's most renowned poets, Edwin Markham and Joaquin Miller; the former a poet herself with many excellent contributions to her credit to be found in the old files of one of Oregon's earliest prints, the Spectator, published at Oregon City; the latter a sturdy pioneer mother, carrying on the business of education and character building among her children in a log cabin hewed out of the primitive Oregon forest. . . . And still later, when the suffrage movement began to stir the world, there were Abigail Scott Duniway, Dr. Mary Thompson and Dr. Owens-Adair, women who gave their years and energies to the long fight for votes; the two physicians being among the first women ever admitted to medical colleges anywhere in the world, and Dr. Owens-Adair being a pioneer in the movement for surgical treatment for all criminals and insane, and the mother of the first bill authorizing this treatment ever passed by any legislature.. . . Practical ends were not overlooked. Mrs. Lord, widow of an early Oregon governor, devoted years of study to flax, and the demonstration that the highest quality for linen-weaving could be grown, commercially, in Oregon—thus connecting her name forever with this industry in its infancy.. . . Other names stand equally high in Oregon's history; these only suggest the various avenues of progress in which her women have gone ahead, carrying banners.
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