author
Elinore Pruitt Stewart
b. 1878
Best known for her lively letters about homesteading in Wyoming, this frontier writer turned hard work, humor, and sharp observation into unforgettable stories of life in the early American West. Her writing helped preserve a rare first-person view of a woman building a life on the frontier.
2 Audiobooks
Letters of a Woman Homesteader
by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Letters on an Elk Hunt
by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
About the author
Born in Indian Territory and later associated with Wyoming, she became widely known through the letters that were collected in Letters of a Woman Homesteader and Letters on an Elk Hunt. Her vivid accounts of ranch work, neighbors, travel, and everyday survival gave readers an unusually personal look at homestead life.
In 1909, she went to southwestern Wyoming to work as a housekeeper for rancher Clyde Stewart, whom she later married. Drawing on her own experiences, she wrote with warmth, wit, and a strong sense of independence, and those qualities made her work popular with readers far beyond the West.
Today, she is remembered not only as an author but also as an important witness to women’s lives on the frontier. Her letters remain valued for their energy, humor, and detailed picture of early 20th-century homesteading.