Pioneering Out West

Edith Stansberry Berry was a pioneer woman, whose family moved to western Nebraska at a time when it was still considered "the frontier". As a small girl, her home was overrun by a cattle stampede. She grew up around the turn of the century during a time when the barb wire fence was an oddity. She worked on her father's hay crew, camping out for two or three months at a time. She married a cowboy from Texas who was a crack shot, and who could ride anything on four feet. Her son claimed he was born in the back of a buckboard that was being pulled by a runaway team (a slight extension of the truth). Two of her children ran down a coyote on horseback and took turns throwing fencing pliers at it until they killed it. In the days before paved roads, she and her husband drove from Ogallala to Yellowstone and back, repairing fifteen flat tires along the way. These and other stories like them represent not just the rich lore of a large and thriving pioneer family, but a fascinating glimpse into life on the frontier during the early years of the twentieth century.