Lone Women

In the beginning of Lone Women, Adelaide remarks that she and the state of Montana share a birthday, though they are several years apart; Adelaide was born in 1883 and Montana officially received statehood in 1889. Her personal sense of connection to the story of Montana illustrates the significance of reading the novel through a historical lens, for Adelaide is a representative of an important period of American history: westward expansion and the development of the American West at the turn of the 20th century. This was a moment in which the conventions of the past clashed with the country’s march into modernity, a situation that created both opportunity and conflict.

Adelaide is an example of what historical accounts refer to as a “lone woman,” or a single female homesteader. Just like her hero, the historical figure of Mattie T. Cramer, Adelaide is one of a group of women who were given several acres of undeveloped land in one of America’s western states or territories. Once the land was awarded, such women had three years to cultivate the land or to “prove it,” after which the terms of their lease would expire and the land would officially belong to them.