Us for inviting the legendary ladies to visit with you today. The women of the west were quite varied. You need only look at the costumes they were and listens to the stories they told to understand this. Some women came west with husbands or fathers who were in search of gold, or opportunity in the west. Often the landscape they encountered was quite different from the one they left behind. Some had to learn new skills in order to survive. Some women were born here. Others came for their own reasons but each was met with a challenge due to their gender or the path they chose. So lets take a step back in time and bring history alive. In an era when opportunities for women were limited, Annie Oakleys amazing ability with the gun proved that women could do just as well or perhaps better than men. applause howdy yes sir. Annie oakley was my stage name. But i was christened phoebe and moses. My sisters thought phoebe was too fancy. As soon as i was big enough to lift my daddies hunting rifle he taught me how to shoot. But he died when i was six. This left my mom in an awful way. We were dirt poor. When i got a little bigger i discovered a way to help my mama. I saw a squirrel outside our cabin and i decided to shoot it. I got my daddys long barrel rifle and filled it with enough gunpowder to kill a buffalo. That was no easy task because the barrel of the rifle was taller than me. I placed the long gun on the front porch and pull the trigger. When all that smoke cleared that squirrel lay dead, shot clean in the head. I still think it was one of the best shots i ever made. I spent my days hunting to provide and feed for my family. My mother would often say to me, phoebe, stop shooting. Youre supposed to be going to school preparing to be a wife and a mother, not shooting but i continued to provide fresh game for my family. I became so skilled added that i regularly sold part of my kill to a local grocer. Soon, customers were specifically asking for bird and game shop only by me. They knew i bought down a game through a clean shot in the head. That way the diners wouldnt crack their teeth on a piece of i was just born with the skill. It was so difficult for my family to keep our family together. Key things had gone from bad to worse. In 1870 when i was ten mama had to send me to the county farm to live. I was hired out to help the family in the next county which was not unusual. But it turned out to be a nightmare. They locked me in closets, they kicked me out in the snow one night because i fell asleep while darning. They were to me have to death from morning till night. I felt like a sleeve. After staying with those wolves for two years, i could not take it any longer, so i ran away back to the county poor farm. The people who ran the place took me in and treated me like one of their own and they taught me how to read and write. In 1875, i left to visit my married sister in cincinnati, ohio. While there, i took up hunting and sold part of my game to the hotel. The hotel keeper new my reputation as a shooter and arranged a shooting match between me and a professional shooting exhibition or named frank butler. The price was 50 dollars. I overheard mr. Butler say the should be easy money out shooting some farm boy. But was he in for the surprise of his life. We were both down to 25 live birds and when the last shots rang out, i had down 23 to 20 one it was the first time frank butler ever lost a shooting match. I won the contest and his heart. We were married august 23rd 1876. Frank joined the circus with a new partner. When they were to appear in springfield, ohio, his partner graham became ill, so frank asked if i would help. During the performance, frank missed several shots. Then a man in the audience yelled, let the girls shoot the audience went wild and the team of butler and oakley was born. Never did like the last name moses. I thought i needed a new last name to go along with my new career as a four performer and oakley just sounded like a better stage name. When we appeared in st. Paul, minnesota, the sue indians chief sitting bull was in the audience. He insisted that he need to me and said i reminded him of his daughter who had died. He offered to adopt me. He gave me several presence and nicknamed me little sure shot. We became lifelong friends. We set our sights on buffalo bill codys wild west show. When we heard his featured marksman had quit, we approached cody about joining. He was skeptical at first. He didnt think 110 pound girl could lift a ten pound rifle, but he agreed to a tryout. Frank through one clay pigeon after another into the air, and i shot every single one of them, starting with my right hand, switching to my left. When i was finished a man standing in the corner watching came running out yelling, wonderful i turned out it was codys Business Partner and hired us on the spot. Cody and i did not always see eye to eye, but he was the kind of person that i ever met. He called me little missy. He agreed that it was smart for his partner to hire us and made me a feature performer in his shows. And i did plenty of tricks shooting performances. I would often shoot backward holding the rifle over my shoulder, holding a mirror aiming at a target behind me. I started shooting from horseback that certainly was a crowd pleaser. But it was my accuracy that made the crowd gasped in astonishment. In 1887, cody took the whole troop to london as part of the american exhibition for Queen Victorias golden jubilee. The prince of wales and his wife attended a performance and i had the chance to meet them. But according to tradition, you always greeted the prince first. But i shook hands with the princess first. I said hell have to excuse me please, because im an american and in america, ladies come first. I had the privilege of meeting Queen Victoria who made a rare appearance at one of our performances. She called me a very clever little girl. After being abroad for three and a half years, life began to take its toll on the road. We had a crash and i was severely injured. We left the dear old wild west. We settled in maryland and spent our summers hunting and fishing with our dog, dave. We continued shooting exhibitions and i talk shooting lessons at the local gun clubs i was particularly interested in teaching women how to shoot for sport and for protection. I think every woman should learn to use a firearm. I steered my own course through life. I hope i changed peoples minds about just how extraordinary a woman could be. I died at the age of 66, but my legacy continues to this day. For the past eight years, books, movies, broadway musicals, tv shows canada dry presents annie oakley board games, papered all cut outs. They have all celebrated my amazing career. I want to thank you all for coming to this show today and i hope to see you at our next performance. applause this gutsy physician treated all ailments, including the deadly spanish influenza of 1918. Meet doctor susan anderson. applause maam, maam, it stave. Daves all torn up from the barbed wire. He is hurt bad. I heard you were a doctor . Please help . Theyve is all ive got. Thats what the young man said to me inside the general store in fraser, colorado. I had a dilemma. I did not want anyone to know i was a doctor yet, not until i was well from the tobacco tuberculosis. I needed more time to heal, but my hypocritical both gave me no choice. Iran home, picked up my medical bag, and followed the cowboy to a corral. Where is dave . He pointed to a horse. I was common for country doctors to treat livestock, but i felt like a fool. No matter. Without, i got that horse untangled and sewn up. After that, folks decided i was a good healer in spite of being a woman. I cured myself and i saw all patients Oliver Frazier and middle part. I charged 25 cents for the house call, but i rarely collected catch, but lots of firewood. Ten years later in a single day, officials canceled church. They canceled school. They even had to forbid people from attending funerals. In 1918, the Worst Epidemic ever to hit this planet, spanish influenza, arrived. No when you want to do about this horrible disease, let alone this country physician. Im susan anderson, medical doctor. Some folks call me doctor soucie. Denver doctors told me about the spanish influenza. Some said it started in the trenches in france during the last months of the great. War some said it started in a military camp in fort reilly, kansas. A massive outbreak which began as a nasty cold that either got better in a few days or killed a patient, this flew off and skipped the young and elderly, but sucked the life from robust adults in their twenties, including servicemen. While we won the great war, spanish influenza was the deadliest battle. I worked day and night going from house to house. So many needed my help, and if i could not get to them within 12 hours of onset, they often died. Bodies were everywhere. And houses, on roads, dumped in graveyards. I had never felt so helpless. Our doctors knew it spread by cough and simply breathing, especially in crowds. But no one knew how to cure it. Not even the Surgeon General of the United States. His advice . Oren avoid wearing tight shoes and gloves. laugher the spanish flu disappeared as quickly as it came. It simply vanished. In 16 months it killed 14 Million People around the world, from the United States to the south sea islands. With the invention of the electron microscope two decades later, scientists discovered a virus caused the disease. It never came back again. I saw many ways to prevent other diseases. I was often called to lumber camps to treat a malady. While i was there, i gathered women and children for a physical exam and administered smallpox and diphtheria vaccinations. Then i and suspected the area. Spotting poor health practices. Move that privy away from the creek we dont want a typhoid epidemic here and good doctor knows one ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I kept my medical bag stopped with standard supplies, including bundles of dress things that i boiled in iron to kill bacteria. A dental kit, and surgical tools. On a typical day, i might stitch a laceration, pull a tooth, deliver a baby on the kitchen floor. When i could, i traveled by train to colorado General Hospital in denver for supplies, and caught up on medical advances with university physicians. They knew i worked under primitive conditions without a laboratory or xray machine. They considered me the best diagnostician on the western slope. However, it did not take a doctor to diagnose drunkenness. Banning booze would make my job easier. Many medical problems stem from alcohol abuse. Seizures, beatings, gunshot wounds, Drinking Alcohol ruined lives. I used it for one reason. To get my patients through surgery. Since i never stopped narcotics, i told many a wife, go ahead and give a little whiskey for the pain. So i was thrilled when prohibition finally passed in 1920 or in. 1920 lets get the date right then colorado had been dry for four years already. But most folks, well, they figured out how to get around without it anyhow. One way was lydia pinkhams vegetable compound made from herbs and 20 alcohol. Advertisers claimed cures all womens ills, including a craving for alcohol. I told my patients it is most likely it is mostly liquor, throw it out. I dont think the heated my advice. Local folks everywhere brewed their own hooch. I asked share fletcher why he could not stop him. He said, if i arrested every moonshine or, all the men in grand county would be in jail. , including county officials and state legislators. And who would vote for me . Frasier valley became prime moonshine territory for denvers crime bosses looking to make a profit. Everyone knew i hated those bootleggers, so the sheriff deputize to me and included me on many raids. I grabbed my medical bag, my hat and my acts, joined up with the deputy in the forest. The sheriff yelled, you are all under arrest and i would start. I loved smashing those stills. White lightning flew out of those barrels. Prohibition was an exciting time for me. I may have been a little eccentric since i never threw anything away. My house was full, but i had created narrow paths for stacks of books, catalogues and newspapers. I even hit my cash in those stacks. Eventually, i had a little space for our patients. No room for food. I often dropped in at mealtime at peoples homes whenever i felt like it. I did not eat much, and i liked to visit. Besides, it was a good way to collect on some bills. I heard Charlie Warner bag himself an elk. Hot elks to tonight. Thank you. applause and now, we have all the way from San Francisco, the lady who went to blazes, lily coit. [applause] i was known as fireable little. I was 20 years old. I was fighting fires alongside firemen. Thats when they found a columnist for harpers weekly heard about me. He reported that i could single handedly rescue men, women and groups of children from burning buildings, carrying them down from dizzying heights on my shoulders, clinging to frail ladders, my skirts ablaze. To tell the truth, i was a firefighter. I helped man the hook and ladder. I solved i saved lives. I was not afraid of fire. Lets go back to my beginning. I was born in 1843 to wealthy parents. My father was an army doctor and when i was still a young girl, he was appointed medical dot director of the entire pacific coast. We moved from kentucky to San Francisco. But it was a very difficult time for me. I battled with my mother constantly. I wanted to wear trousers laugher but mother forced me to wear dresses and act like a lady. At age 15, i had to host a little Girls Tea Party at the fits murrays house in downtown, San Francisco. We were in a second floor room. The hotel was being renovated and one of the workman must of gotten careless with a kerosene lantern. Because right in the middle of the tee and crump its, the room filled up with smoke. I tried the door. It was locked. It was so hot. Outside, i heard the fire going. It was knickerbockers station number five. They threw their hooks to the roof and pulled up the ladders. I pushed those screaming girls out the window when by one while the firemen from number five pulled them. Out all except two, he ran back in the room when the wall started to collapse. I had to leave those girls behind. I climbed on a firemans back and rode him right out of the flames. I leapt off to the streets and thats when i fell in love with fire, with the bravery, the excitement, the danger of fire fighting. From that moment on, i followed the laddies from number five to every fire i could, they hailed me as their official luck mascot. I can still remember the thrill of that fire gong as the horses galloped passed the house. Wait for me i would run out and jump on the fire wagon. I cheered those lad ease with my trumpet. I converted a mans uniform trousers into a split skirt. It would not below in the wind or snag on the latter. Once we raced to a fire on Telegraph Hill, one of the highest points in San Francisco as the latkes used hand pumps to pump up the water pressure, i took up the fire hose pointed at the fire and straight at me strode the newtown fire commissioner. Get that girl out of here i turned the hose right add him. laugher dont you touch me, you bully he stopped just long enough. I swung the hose back toward the fire. The water pressure was Strong Enough to knock a man down, but i had an iron grip on that fire hose. Nothing could make me let go. I would like to tell you a few things about fighting fires in San Francisco in 1860. The firefighters were all volunteers and each district had their fire station. In the event of a fire, the First Company to arrive at the conflagration was awarded. Here it is. A fox tale. They hung it proudly outside their fire station. On the next fire call, if a rival company responded first, the fox tail was passed to them. This cost fears competition between Fire Companies who accused each other of invading their districts, trying to gain hero publicity. For them or, the First Company to arrive had the right to refuse help from other Fire Companies, even when they knew they did not have enough water to put the fire out. Because of pride and mismanagement, countless buildings burned to the ground. Somebody had to talk to those firefighters. Well, i tried it. I said why risk your lives and the lives of your comrades for a fox dale . And you must be willing to accept help from other Fire Companies. They refused to listen to me. By this time i was not only number fives mascot, but also their financial sponsor. I bought the steam engine for the fire wagon in 1868 and a new team of horses. I proposed a full dress parade for all volunteers to show the people of San Francisco the fine men and machines protecting their city. The lad hes liked that idea. The rivals from fire houses that were fighting earlier began to talk to each other and the parade became an annual event. Before, long city officials decided that the volunteer should be paid city employees. I had a hand in that. Was eccentric . More than once i left a formal dinner party and fought a fire in my best gown. [laughter] i married howard coit, a caller at the San Francisco stock exchange, a big blowhard of a man beneath my social standing. To irritate him, i sometimes shaved my head and wore a different colored wig every day. I loved to gamble. Those gambling houses on north beach did not allow women, so i dress like a man and some of the time i got in. I played poker with the best of them. I am im lily coit, and when i died in 19 between nine, i left the city 118,000 to build a monument honoring the firefighters. They erected a massive white concrete tower 210 feet high atop Telegraph Hill made out of concrete. A named it quite a tower. It overlooks a statue of three brave volunteer firefighters from knickerbocker station number five, the best friends i ever knew. Thank you. [applause] dont let mother jones frail appearance deceive you. Hell half no fury like a woman with a cause. My, my, my, look at all of you folks out there. Here is my union boys done a good job getting you all in here today. Let me introduce myself. My name is mary harris jones. Or as my boys like to call me, mother jones. Did you know im considered to be one of the most dangerous women in america . Its true. And its all because of my union organizing. Ive been involved in unionism as a roundabout way as my husband george had done some recruiting for them. After i lost my george and children to yellow fever in 1867, i knew somehow i had to go on with my life. So i went to chicago where i found work as a seamstress. While i was in chicago, the great fire erected and i lost everything. I was devastated and i did not where to go for help, so i turn to the union and became aware of their crusade to improve the conditions for the working class. I thought they could use my health. So here i am. I am mighty heartened to see you folks out here sinking information about our union. I have to admit, Union Membership tunnel the mine owners have money, power and political influence and they use all of it in order to maintain control of you miners and the deplorable conditions under which you work. For me to come to you with a message of improving your lives in working conditions through unionism is indeed a risky business. I harbor no illusions us to my vulnerability. In fact i recently saw a picture of another Union Organizer who died at the hands of a group of armed union busters, and i was amazed that was not me. I do not deceive myself at my old age. Could she even my sweet granny face wont protect me, because it wont. They say i live in the belly of a shark and i believe it. I do owe a good measure of my remaining to the fact that i remain complete solidarity with the working class. These men, women, children harbor and protect me and keep me out of the hands of the posses. It also helps that have got a darn good instinct for getting me and my work publicized. But i do have my detractors. There is no love lost between me and. Them newspaper reporter poly pry, that goody two shoes who will print anything and everything she can against my work. And i have a number of detractors among those highfalutin women of the womens suffrage movement, and that feeling is mutual. They say i am a paradox because i do not support womens suffrage, and yet i can do believe women have strengths not yet discovered. I dont pity the women of the poor working class. They have pride, joy of life and tremendous faith. They are trying to keep food on the table, they want to keep their houses warm and their children clothes. A live with the constant fear of horrible accidents that killed their husbands and overnight, leave them destitute. Many a grieving mother has made the difficult decision of sending her children to work in the mines because her family had lost all means of support. And so the older boys that take their fathers place in the deep dark cold depths of the mines, doing backbreaking work, while their younger brothers would shoots pulling rock out of the chunks of cold. They would man the trap doors where they let meals in and out of the mine or the colors worked hard. The younger brothers would be doing all the chores needed around the mines. As if that was not bad enough, then i heard about the horrible conditions of the children working in the textile mills down south. I went undercover and presented myself to a middle manager as a person seeking employment. When i told him that i had other family members that were also seeking employment, and children, he hired me on the spot. The next day, i went to work. When i went into the building, i saw them. Children, six to ten years old, working alongside their parents. They were working amidst the horrific noise and the dust of the mills. A were climbing under the equipment toward the machines. They were reaching into the louvres to pick threats, carrying the heavy skins of yarn. They worked eighthour days for ten cents a day. There were younger children there as well. They would assist their older brothers and sisters because the also renounced their childhood and became a wager burner at the age of six. The children started their workday at 5 30 in the morning. By the time they took their noon daybreak, they were exhausted. Many would fall asleep over their lunch buckets, only to be aroused a way to go back to work. That was their only release. They had no playtime. The children looked old for their years and there were many injuries, broken, missing fingers, maimed hands, maimed arms, and illnesses and death. Consumption, bronchitis, pneumonia, getting caught in the machinery. Sunday was their only day off in which time they were expected to go to church, and then they would have a little playtime, but most were too tired to even participate in play. I met maggie, a sweet little 11yearold when i stayed with her and her mom. It was maggies day off. Her mom asked her she wanted to go out to play and she said no. She was just too tired, so she slept and then the next day she went back to work. It carried her home that afternoon and laid her out. She had gotten caught in the machinery and had been killed. You may wonder why arent the children in school . There are two things. The family is so poor and they had so many children, because they didnt not know how to not have children. All who could work had to work to keep food on the table. Only when a child was injured was that child allowed to go to school. And although the schools were not adequate, at least it gave the children a chance for some of the childhood. Moreover, the concept of a required, free, Public School education originated in the 19th century, but it was not until 1918 that it became a requirement that all children should have at a minimum, an Elementary School education. So the unionists working tirelessly to eliminate the worst cases of child labor. In a few states they actually enacted laws. We had a long way to go, however. I was in recruiting in west virginia, and pennsylvania when i got a call to come to colorado. I bet all of you folks out there dont realize there were so many coal fields in colorado. Like around marshall and in the northern part of the state. Garfield county in the western part of the state, trinidad, and many more in the southern part of the state. I first arrived in trinidad in 1913. I came at the request of the minors who asked for my help in the struggle against john the rockefeller. The miners working conditions were horrible. It was my encouragement 8000 miners went on strike for basic demands. It was to be expected. The states governor called out the militia. The militia, under general chase was not neutral. When they arrived in trinidad the general immediately ordered me out of the state, so i had to go. And then i came right back. When i did, the general had to be placed under military confinement in trinidad where i stayed for a number of weeks. He threw me in a rat infested jail for several more weeks. All during this time, 11,000 miners statewide heeded the call to go on strike, and colorado resembled a war zone. Both sides were armed and ready to shoot. I went to washington and appeared before a Congressional Committee committee on minors issues. And while i was gone, the state militia decided to take matters into its own hands. Early in the morning of april 20th 1914, they attacked the little town that we called ledlow. They attacked with guns and machine guns and with fire. The next day, after the embers had cooled down and minors went back to their camps, they found over 20 people dead. Men, women and children, all dead from gunshot or suffocation. The state and the nation were horrified that this could happen, and the miners were enraged. They began attacking and destroying the mines and mine buildings in the trinidad area. The killings continued and colorado stared into the deep abyss of class warfare. As soon as i could i came back to my boys and colorado and i counseled them to keep a level head. That federal help is on the way. Help finally did come. Federal troops replaced the militia. The strike finally ended in december, but it was not a victory for our miners, because none of their issues had been addressed. The struggle went on and on and on. Oh, goodness gracious. Look at the time. The rally is about ready to start and i have to scoot. I do hope to see you there. applause when our men went off to war, ray wilson found a way to help on the home front. Train is coming we heard the shout and eagerly lined the platform at the station to surprise our men when they pulled into the depot. It was december 17, 1941, and war had recently been declared. I am ray wilson. I was hoping to see my brother, captain denver wilson, who commanded one of the nebraska companies rumored to be on that train. Women and girls had brought cookies and cupcakes, cigarettes, magazines and gifts for our men going off to war. The train pulled into the station and stopped to take on coal and water. We scanned the windows, searching for familiar faces. Where are you boys from . Kansas, company de of the national guard. Disappointment set in as we realized we had been misinformed. Well im not taking these cookies home, i said. I stepped up to pass out goodies to the soldiers above me and the other women followed suit. Such grateful smiles, cheers and thankyous. I practically floated home remembering the scene. Following day i wrote a letter to the editor of the daily herald. I proposed that we begin a venue that would greet every train coming true. I volunteered to organize at to a one and run this venture free of charge. The following week, we opened a new north plaid canteen on christmas day. The idea caught on. The whole towns far as 150 miles away, a grand aisle nebraska to the, east colorado to the west, signed up to come to north plaid and mend the operation. What started off as cookies and cut case soon ballooned into a full buffet as people gave what they could. We kept records. Heres what we brought in on just one day. 127 fried chickens. 58 doesnt cookies. 68 dozen donuts. 73 three pounds of coffee. 160 loaves of bread, and comparable amounts of eggs, ham, lunch meat, cupcakes, plus cigarettes playing cards, 600 dollars and more peeling eggs was the first task of mourning, as bushels of eggs were delivered daily along with homemade mayonnaise that we transformed into egg salad sandwiches. The sandwiches were a favorite in season. And sometimes out of season. Women whipped turkey egg whites into angel food cakes. A special treat thanks to donated sugar rations, and every Service Member celebrating a birthday got back on board with a cake to share. Popcorn balls were especially popular because of the surprise tucked inside. A slip of paper with a girls name and address. Many pen pals resulted, and even when marriage. The train pulled into the station and dozens of men, sometimes servicewomen as well, hopped off and ran into the station lunchroom where theyre ten to 15 minute break. Across the room, they found long tables filled with food. On the sidewalk, there was a table laden with books, magazines, readers digest, cigarettes and candy bars would disappear in a flash. And everything was free. At the foreign, they could get their shoes shined or sing along to the tunes coming from the upright piano. Dont sit under the apple tree with an anyone else but me. I will be seeing you and all be old familiar places. And young girls lined up eager to dance, or just talk. This frenzy repeated itself 18 to 32 times a day and into the night. It was exhilarating. Too soon the train whistle sounded. The men scampered back on board to continue their journeys to who knows what future. Some would never return. The room, which had been crowded and noisy, was suddenly empty and quiet. And then we got busy to greet the next train. I was often on dishwashing duty. It was a neverending chore. Some men climbed back on board carrying their coffee cups and eight ounce bottles of milk. The conductor is collected these, put them off at the following station for the next incoming trying to bring back to us to wash and use again. We received mail from all over. The man on the front lines wrote to say how much it meant to them to have one place unique in the nation where they could see Friendly Faces on their crosscountry journeys to unknown destinations. Their lives, mothers and sweethearts thanked us for our service. Some of those notes included money to help with expenses. Oh, one letter came from the white house, saying, heard you are doing some good things out there, along with a check for five dollars signed by president Franklin Roosevelt himself. August 14th, 1945 is vijay day. The war was over. Our troops were coming home and we were there to welcome them again. We stayed open eight more months until the final trip train came through and we took down our sign. The canteen operated for 51 months, meeting dozens of trains every day, rain, shine, or blizzard. Greeting over 6 million servicemen and women. If you visit north plaid today, you will not see the train station. They tour that down years ago. What you may look upon a statue of me in a small Victory Garden beside the veterans memorial. When people ask, what did your town contribute to the war effort . I stand proudly and say, we may not have had a big war industry, but north platte exported morale. applause ray wilson, annie oakley, doc soucie, and mother jones. These women survived by their wit and determination. They, and countless others, paved the way for the freedom and individuality that women enjoy today. Please join me in saluting their courage. applause in 1969, Yale University began admitting women for the first time. Up next on American History tv, a look at the challees