Toward the Setting Sun: Pioneer Girls Traveling the Overland Trails

Mary Barmeyer O'Brien has taken the covered wagon diaries and memoirs of ten young girls and harmonized them with own characteristic style of writing to illustrate the many human perils endured along the emigrant trail.As with her other book, "Into the Western Wind" which depicts young boys' perceptions of the rigors of overland travel, "Toward the Setting Sun" is also an insightful glimpse into how young girls perceived the hardships and dangers of emigrating. A few examples would be:Nine-year old Catherine Sager's 1844 journey which was devastated by the deaths of her mother and father, leaving Catherine and her six siblings orphans of the trail.Thirteen-year old Olive Oatman's 1850 travels along the Gila Trail turned for the worst when both parents and her sister were killed by Apaches. Olive was then captured by the Apaches, later traded to the Mohave Indians and spent more than five years as a captive.Eleven-year old Lucy Ann Henderson's 1846 party coping with the accidental death of her younger sister after drinking an entire bottle of laudanum (opium mixture). A few days later her mother gave birth to a baby girl.Along with the experiences of seven other girls' stories, the reader gains insight into the realities of western overland travels. An enjoyabe book.