Elinore Pruitt Stewart

Elinore Pruitt Stewart (1876–1933) was orphaned early in life. She and her brothers and sisters made their own way in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, and in the absence of schools, she taught herself to read and write. After losing her husband in a railroad accident, she went to Denver, where she worked as a laundress, housekeeper, and furnace tender to support herself and her daughter. She heard about Wyoming from a friend while recovering from an illness. Two days later, she was on her way there. An ad placed in a newspaper quickly gained her empoyment as housekeeper for Clyde Stewart, a rancher, whom she later married.

America's most famous woman homesteader, Elinore is the author of the classic Letters of a Woman Homesteader, which was the inspiration for the critically acclaimed movie Heartland, and Letters on an Elk Hunt.