Customer Reviews

Letters on an Elk Hunt by a Woman Homesteader

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I first read "Letters of a Woman Homesteader" by Elinore Stewart. I enjoyed it so much I bought this one too. It is the same kind of writing . Just a continuation of the previous book. Excellent writing of a truly gifted writer and woman from the turn of the century, 1900 on. She has a way of bringing you into her time as though you were on the journey with her. You can visualize all that she talks about. She has a way about her that you don't see much anymore. A love of her fellow man.
The stories in this book are from an Elk hunt that she made with her husband and neigbors. It isn't really about hunting but what she endures on the trip. How everyone pitches in to help one another and help those they come across. When they come across homesteaders out in the middle of nowhere they always are welcomed in. She tells in her own way what the people she comes across are like and how they behave. the letters are quite heartwarming and fun to read. I enjoyed every word. I highly recommend this book to those interested in Wyoming life at the turn of the century. Or just interested in how the people interacted with each other back then.
I'll be getting another of Elinore Stewarts books soon.

This series of letters to a friend highlight a two-month trip Elinore, her husband and some friends took to hunt elk in Wyoming in 1914. It begins with a trip into town for the 4th of July celebration and in true Elinore form, she makes a new friend and tells all about the young girl's story. And, what a storyteller Elinore Stewart is. She makes the reader feel as if we were there. If you haven't read "Letters of a Woman Homesteader," please don't miss it. Elk Hunt is shorter, but none the less in rich detail that Stewart writers her tomes in.

In Elk Hunt, Stewart once again meets and makes new friends, helping them along the way to the hunt. More than in her first novel, we experience the true nature of the extremely hard life that many early settlers had, and the more positive experiences others had. I cried when Stewart told about an elderly mother who was living in the 'pore' house and how when her son found out he sent for her. These are stories that make you think. I can't pick up another book right after finishing reading Stewart's collections of letters because I want to ponder all I have read.

For everyone, children and adults, men and women, whether you have an interest in the early frontier or independent women, these letters tell of hope and survival and most importantly, helping your neighbor.

I had never heard of Elinor Stewart until my niece had to give a book report about her. She was an orphan from back East who made her way West to find a life of her own that didn't include abject poverty. She ended up essentially a mail-order bride, finding work on a Wyoming ranch initially as a housekeeper. This book describes an annual elk hunt that local residents would go on to secure enough meat to get them thru the winter. It is a verbal snapshot of a simpler yet more complicated time. Elinore couldn't just run down to the store to pick up burger, bread and milk. I would recommend that the reader start with "Letters of a Woman Homesteader", to get Elinore's background and the life she created for herself and her daughter and, eventually, her husband and other children. An easy read, but facinating. There is a charge for the Kindle version (although her first book can be had as a freebie): hopefully, a Kindle free edition will come out soon.

This edition of letters by Elinore Pruitt Stewart was expressly commissioned by Atlantic Monthly for publication in their magazine. I believe that affected the tone of her letters; they appear a tad more stilted and contrived than her other two collections. For one thing, Elinore did not enjoy hunting, at least she states that in the beginning. But her letters still hold a quaint charm to them. If you really want her best book, read "The Adventures of a Woman Homesteader" as these letters were not all published and reveal a bit more of her true personality, not what she thinks folks reading a magazine might like or want to read. Still, I did enjoy her accounts revolving around going hunting, particularly her observations of nature and the people encountered. She has a certain way with words that make you picture things well in your mind from her description.

I have not read this book yet -- because I ordered the Kindle version (how cool is that?) and my hubby took my Kindle with him on a trip. BUT-- I have read Letters of a Woman Homesteader, and watched (several times) the movie Heartland, which was based on aforementioned book, so I KNOW this will be amazing. Elinore Pruitt Stuart should be required reading in US history. Amazing woman -- amazing writer. What a time and place she writes about! You have never spent a worthier dollar(s) than in purchasing anything she has written.

PS-- the film Heartland stars Rip Torn in the role of a lifetime, as a Scot who emigated to the west, and Conchita Farrell (sp?)as Ms. Pruitt, who ventured westward to be Mr Stuart's housekeeper, along with her young (age 8, I think) daughter, intending to file for a homestead of her own. They are both amazing. I won't spoil it by saying more, but find this lovely film (Netflix has it) and enjoy. It is one of my all-time favorites, and if you love this era, or reading about real adventurous courageous trail-blazing woemen,it will become one of yours, too.