L. Margaret Drake

Homesteading Woman L. Margaret Drake

In 1910, women could not vote. The romance of the western frontier still lured many people to adventure and the quest for wealth in the prairies. Homesteaders were enticed to settle the lands with the goal of civilizing the west. Miss Ruby Taylor, school teacher joined this flood of new settlers to the South Dakota plains. She took her chances in a land lottery. Money was a constant worry for her with her modest teacher's income. Living in the family of one of her students was a challenge as some families resented "boarding the teacher". Women were sought after for wives by the men who made up the majority of the homesteaders. Marriage meant giving up control over a woman's income as well as unavailability of birth-control which meant repeated pregnancies with high infant and mother mortality. When men begin to pursue Ruby, she was forced to consider all these factors. She is absorbed by overcoming the day-by-day barriers and problems in the life of a settler, a rural one-room schoolteacher and in being a single woman in a male dominated frontier. Successfully she fends off unwanted attention until one surprising attack.