A small band of Wild West cowgirls rode into stardom around the turn of the 20th century, earning nearly as much as the cowboys in the traveling shows and often out-performing them. At a time when women were discouraged from working outside the home or exercising, the Wild West cowgirls became fabulously popular stars who drew huge audiences and fans. Women around the world admired them for their audacity to lead lives outside the norm. They are some of history's forgotten women.
Goldie Griffith was one of that group of early professional female athletes. She performed tricks and rode bucking broncos for the most famous showman of the time, Buffalo Bill. At the age of 19, she was married during one of his Wild West shows at Madison Square Garden before a crowd of 8,000 whistling and stomping fans. A few years later, she discovered that her cowboy husband had already been married when they wed, and she pulled out her gun.
She never shot a husband who didn't deserve it.
A WILLA Literary Award finalist for creative non-fiction.
Autorentext
Long-time Nederland, Colorado, resident Kay Turnbaugh owned the local newspaper for 27 years. During that time she wrote several articles about Goldie Cameron, never guessing that when she sold the paper she would devote four years of her life to researching the fascinating life of one of our country's first professional female athletes who worked as a cowgirl, bronco buster, and local entrepreneur. The Last of the Wild West Cowgirls: A True Story was a finalist for a Willa Literary Award in Creative Non-Fiction for 2010. The author also has written books about local history, a kids' book about the mountain pine beetle, and co-authored several hiking guidebooks. Find her at www.kayturnbaugh.com.
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Other books by the author:
Following in Their Footsteps: Historical Hikes of the Northern Front Range (with Lee Tillotson)
Rocky Mountain National Park Dining Room Girl: The Summer of 1926 at the Horseshoe Inn (with Lee Tillotson)
Images of America: Around Nederland
The Mountain Pine Beetle?Tiny but Mighty
Afoot & Afield: Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and Rocky Mountain National Park (with Alan Apt)
Ski Touring Routes: Colorado's Front Range (with Alan Apt)