Photo: Cowgirls headed for the round-up.

At an unidentified rodeo, five unidentified women are on horseback, standing up in their saddles riding though an arena. There are stands with spectators in the background. The women wear pants. One woman wears a baseball cap.

Introduction

Photo: Elrod Family

A young woman, possibly Emma Elrod, holding Elrod's young son. Appears to be in a rural area. Dog can be seen behind woman.

For decades, men and women’s roles have been clearly defined by society. Women stayed at home and had children. Men worked, made the money for the house, and were in charge of it. These roles were drilled into children as soon as they could learn about them.

In the early days of Montana, these roles remained a fundamental pillar of the familial structure but due to the hardships of the frontier, many women started to blur the lines of this definition.

From women behind the scenes to women in the workforce, every amazing woman helped build Montana into a place for equality and support of women’s rights.

“I never had any help. I just did it myself.” - Isabella Mogstead, when asked about cooking for 
large crews of men on the homestead. 

Photo: Helen P. Clarke at cook's tent, Otoe Agency, Indian Territory

View of Helen P. Clarke at her cook's tent at her residence on the Otoe Agency, Indian Territory. Note on verso states that this is 'at Creek post.' Helen sits in a chair at the table that appears to be set for a meal under an extension of the cook's tent where food was prepared. Another woman, possibly the cook, stands nearby and an unidentified young girl sits in a chair near the far end of the table from Helen, with a doll present on the ground nearby.

Women Behind the Scenes

The most prominent (and documented) role of early Montanan women was to maintain the homestead, feed the help, and keep up with the children.

In recollections of this time, provided by a 1980s oral history project through Montana Historical Society, Voices of Labor, numerous women recall this time period as “the good old days” where they didn’t have to worry about food, shelter, or money. These women recount being able to count on one another and not have to worry about theft or other crime.

These women, working unpaid to support their families, by helping on the farm, maintaining the homestead, or engaging in other unrecognized labor. Without the work of these women behind the scenes, the men who are credited for building Montana, would have no leg to stand upon.

“I knew how to do the work. I’d worked in the field like a man” – Pearl Johnson, elaborating on 
why she worked the fields instead of hired help.

Photo: Absarokee, Montana's first students and teacher.

Group of children from the school's first classes are gathered in front of the school building in Absarokee, Montana, with their teacher, Josephine Bryant Chitwood. Children identified as Fred Kelly, Vera Ellis, Minnie Mentch, Anna McKelvey, Irma Barron, Mary Masterson, Willis Bennett, Alf Mendenhall, Claudia Kerr, Minnie Bennett, Vernon Ellis, Arlie Mulherin, Blanche McKelvey, J. Kemp, Nellie Mentch, Flossie Mentch, Elmer Inderland, R. Shortly, Celia Carstens, Suzy Mulherin, Rosie Weikel, Boyd Kelly, Art Weikel, Elmer Torgrimson, Ed. Mulherin, Archie Bennett, Byron Torgrimson, Grace Marcher, Eno Carstens, Hazel Mentch, Grace Weikel, Violet Rehm, Joe Mulherin, Bill Masterson, Josephine Mulherin, Ruby Sailor, and Bernice Mulherin.

Photo: Rural Schools of Fergus County, Montana-School District #127

School District #127 was located near Fergus, Montana. Teacher, Katherine Cotter, Ebba, Dora, Percy, Lawrence & Marie Larson, Mary, Hazel, Marjorie, Nell & Elmer Shoepleford, Chester, Ruby, Howard Strausberg, Joe, Rudy, Mike, Teddy and Anna Pelot

Women in the Workforce

While these traditional gender roles were still expected of women, the economic demands of the rural frontier forced women to procure traditionally “male” centered jobs. For a great deal of women, traditional female fields were also out of reach. Schools to become nurses and teachers were few and far between. Many families refused to pay tuition for their daughters to go to school since they assumed their daughters would be marrying farmers, rendering an education useless.

Photo: Ellen Deegan at Deegan homestead

Ellen (Whalen) Deegan at Deegan homestead, Swan Valley

Many women got paid to cook at ranches from five in the morning until midnight. These women procured room and board for their families through their efforts. Their husbands, and sometimes their children, could even work as ranch hands to help provide for their families as well.

Outside of this homestead work, women were able to hold various “unimportant’” jobs around the state. While they worked up the ladder, these jobs gained more recognition.

Photo: Florence Fowler Rooney and Hazel Fowler on horses

Two women sit on saddled horses. Photo caption reads: Florence Fowler Rooney, Hazel Fowler.

Clara Fewkes recalled boarding a teacher in Eureka, selling chickens and their eggs, and selling woodticks to scientists in order to help her family stay afloat while her husband's cattle ranch wasn’t doing well.

Photo: Women in No. 2 Coal Mine Klein Montana

Photograph of Women and Men down in the No. 2 Republic Coal Company coal mine near Klein, Montana. They were 225 feet deep on December 2, 1913. It was a little unusual to have women down in the mine. The eleven people in the photograph are: Bill Wilkenson, Hazel Laffea, Tommy Smith, Mae Morgan, Agnes Morgan, Mrs. Murrie, Mrs. Law Laffea, Mr. Al Murrie, Mrs. Al Murrie, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Laffea.

Lydia Keating, against her husband's wishes, started a business to sell live sheep, their wool, and their meat to keep her family supported, saying “Instead of just going out and borrowing money to do something, you had to figure out some way to get it.” More of her story can be heard in her 1982 interview, continuing from this quote on Tape B Side A, around 4:30. 

“You have to go home and do all the housework and we still had the cows and everything to take care of and still had to go home and do that and, you know, that made an awful lot of work.”

Edna McCann stated in her Voices of Labor interview. More of her story can be heard, continuing from this quote on Tape B Side B, around 7:44. 

Photo: Dry Farming Wheat, - 1911 Crop, Near Glendive, Montana

View a young woman wearing a hat, dress, and work gloves standing beside a young boy in the midst of a partially cut wheat field, on a farm near Glendive in Dawson County, Montana. Photo donated by the Publicity Division of the Montana Department of Agriculture, and taken by L. A. Foster Photo Co., Glendive (Mont.).

Edna McCann made money from the sale of milk obtained from her family cows. She used the earnings to procure mining claims and begin prospecting to earn extra money for her family.  

Kristina Fallan recalled packing horses, travelling over 100 miles and creating her own homestead, to later sell for money.

Photo: Horse and buggy; woman driving

Women took whatever highest-paying jobs would hire them. Some women stopped working in Bridger in order to make more money on beet wagons. Some mowed clover for money. Others became postmistresses, teachers, and even farm hands when they could.

These women interviewed all took pride in not taking “handouts” but rather being tough and providing for their families themselves.

Photo: Alta Ledgerwood, Eunice Morris Brown, Ella Falligan, and Margaret Strong

Photograph of four young women, possibly in their 20's, in front of a wood frame building. Photo caption reads: Alta Ledgerwood, Eunice Morris Brown, Ella Falligan, Margaret Strong.

Countless women have stories of creating lives as feminism hit Montana in action rather than title. These women’s names and stories often go unheard because they were simply “background characters” in history.

Exhibit Author: Emmie Baker

Bibliography 

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Montana History Portal, accessed 10/04/2026, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/26050 

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Elrod family (Unknown). Montana History Portal, accessed 10/04/2026, 
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Mogstad, Isabella, 1886-1987., Isabella Mogstad interview transcript, 1982 Mar. 17 (1982). 
Montana History Portal, accessed 04/06/2026, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/83003

 
Rural Schools of Fergus County, Montana-School District #127. Montana History Portal, 
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