author
Edith Eudora Kohl
b. 1884
A pioneering homesteader turned journalist, she wrote vivid, firsthand books about life on the South Dakota prairie and the people who settled the American West. Her work blends memoir, reporting, and local history in a way that still feels direct and alive.
1 Audiobook
Land of the Burnt Thigh
by Edith Eudora Kohl
About the author
Born Edith Eudora Ammons in 1884, she is best known for Land of the Burnt Thigh, a lively autobiographical account drawn from her years homesteading in South Dakota with her sister Ida. The National Park Service highlights the sisters' experience as an example of how women shaped frontier life for themselves in the early 20th century.
Later, she built a career in Colorado as a journalist and author. The Denver Public Library describes her as a Denver writer who worked for the Denver Post in the 1930s and again from 1946 to 1954.
Her books reached beyond memoir into regional history as well, including works such as Denver's Historic Mansions. Across her writing, she is remembered for turning hard experience on the plains into clear, readable stories about endurance, place, and everyday western life.