These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901

These Is My Words depicts the American West during its decades-long ranching and settlement phase in the years between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century. In the story’s era, the Transcontinental Railroad was already built, and American cities like Tucson, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, were in their earliest stages of industrialization. While the railroad was far from a perfected mode of travel, as it was vulnerable to criminals and harsh weather, this new railway infrastructure made settlement and travel in the American West faster and safer than ever before.

However, Sarah’s family elects to travel to the Texas and Arizona Territories by covered wagon, rather than by train; this form of travel was more common in the earlier decades of the 19th century. Sarah’s diary does not explain the Prines’ choice to travel by wagon, but she mentions that in their youth, Mama (who is otherwise unnamed) and Papa (Henry Arthur) traveled the Oregon Trail by covered wagon to the family’s former settlement in New Mexico Territory. Their choice to move via wagon train reflects the family’s relative lack of education, as well as their living—particularly while in New Mexico Territory—at a remove from any bustling, developing cities or towns.