"Westward the Women" is based on many true stories, rather than one. Many of our ancestors were pioneers trying to find new and better lives; the rough journeys they faced included both genders and all ages. Although a wagon train such as this, "manned" mostly by women, would have been very rare, it would not have been impossible or even unlikely.
Overland journeys between Missouri and California in 1851 were unbelievably strenuous by our standards: no guarantees of basic necessities, such as drinkable water; no communication with the people left behind or waiting ahead; no Cavalry to fend off Indian attacks; no way to replenish supplies between outposts; no means or skills to fix broken wagons and other problems but whatever you had with you; no medical defenses against diseases or accidents. The ladies in our story had to learn to cope with all the hazards, doing for themselves what would have been considered "men's work" under other circumstances: driving mules, hauling water, gathering fuel, shooting back, and all the rest.
Incredibly, although many people died along the way, many more completed their journeys alive and ready for whatever was required of them to build their new lives in the new places
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