The Last of the Wild West Cowgirls: A True Story

by Kay Turnbaugh

Overview

Goldie Griffith was one of a kind. She boxed. She wrestled. She rode bucking broncos in the Buffalo Bill Wild West traveling tent shows, and a newspaper referred to the pretty young bronco buster as a "Heller in Skirts." She was one of the first professional female athletes. She was an actor and stunt rider for the brand-new western movies that were taking the country by storm. She was married during a Buffalo Bill Wild West show at Madison Square Garden with a crowd of 8,000 in attendance, and Buffalo Bill himself gave her away. She became a rancher and owned several restaurants in the mountains of Colorado. She trained dogs for the war and applied to be the first policewoman in San Francisco. Was there anything she couldn't do? She didn't think so. This is the (amazingly) true story of Goldie Griffith's life. With over 120 photographs and images. A 2009 WILLA Literary Award finalist.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013301344
Publisher:	Perigo Press
Publication date:	05/15/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	394
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Kay Turnbaugh owned a weekly newspaper in Nederland, Colorado, for 27 years. She now works as a freelance author, editor, and designer. She spent four years researching and writing this biography of Goldie Griffith.

Editorial Reviews

Thank heavens Goldie’s story wasn’t lost because she was present at many significant early day western events and knew many of the people who helped the American West become important to our history. Sit back and read about Goldie’s life, truly The Last of the Wild West Cowgirls. The experiences Goldie had in show business and ranching will keep you turning pages until you finish the book and wish there were more.

Gail Woerner

After I started reading it, I could not put it down except to sleep a few hours. It was a great ‘read,’ and as a western historian, I could not believe that I had never heard of Goldie Griffith Cameron…she certainly deserves to be recognizedas more than a bit player in the overall story of the West in times past.

Alvin Davis

I very much enjoyed The Last of the Wild West Cowgirls. It is a well-researched blend of fact and informed imagination that brings to life the story of a very independent and colorful woman. Goldie Griffith: wrestler, cowgirl, bronc rider, entrepreneur and feminist. What a woman!

Steve Friesen

It’s frankly surprising that Griffith is not better known — she was a boxer, fencer and wrestler who took up bronc-busting and who was “given away” in marriage by none other than Buffalo Bill Cody at Madison Square Garden. Turnbaugh’s journalistic background serves her well in this lively, history-packed volume.

Clay Evans

Turnbaugh’s descriptions of a novice climbing aboard a horse that is trained to buck reveals the depth of her research, and her ability to create a feel for the action that took place almost 100 years ago. You can taste the dust in Goldie’s mouth, feel the sweat dribbling down her chest and smell the corral, the horse energy….The book puts one into the center of the struggles of a traveling show…it's an historic gem that was just waiting to be written.

Barbara Lawlor