Life on Muskrat Creek

A Homestead Family in Wyoming

Ethel Waxham Love and J. David Love - Edited by Frances Love Froidevaux and Barbara Love

Written by Ethel Waxham Love, a Wellesley College graduate who went to Wyoming in 1905 as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse, and her son, J. David Love, who later became an eminent geologist, Life on Muskrat Creek tells the fascinating story of a family’s day-to-day life on an isolated ranch in early twentieth-century Wyoming. Readers will be held in suspense as they learn about the family’s battle with a variety of challenges, including a near-fatal bout with Spanish influenza, life-threatening encounters with livestock and wildlife, and disastrous episodes of fires, flooding, blizzards, and drought. The book’s depiction of more ordinary events is equally engaging; Ethel describes becoming a wife and raising children without the support of neighbors, women friends, or a wider family network, and David recounts growing up in a wild and remote place where there was no local school to attend. Readers from all walks of life will find Life on Muskrat Creek to be a lively and provocative book.

University Press Copublishing Division / Lehigh University Press

Pages: 288 • Trim: 6 x 9½

978-1-61146-264-7 • Hardback • February 2018 • $51.00 • (£39.00)

978-1-61146-266-1 • Paperback • May 2020 • $19.99 • (£14.99)

978-1-61146-265-4 • eBook • February 2018 • $48.50 • (£37.00)

Subjects: History / United States / 20th Century, History / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI), Literary Collections / Diaries & Journals

Life on Muskrat Creek

A Homestead Family in Wyoming

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary
Summary

Written by Ethel Waxham Love, a Wellesley College graduate who went to Wyoming in 1905 as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse, and her son, J. David Love, who later became an eminent geologist, Life on Muskrat Creek tells the fascinating story of a family’s day-to-day life on an isolated ranch in early twentieth-century Wyoming. Readers will be held in suspense as they learn about the family’s battle with a variety of challenges, including a near-fatal bout with Spanish influenza, life-threatening encounters with livestock and wildlife, and disastrous episodes of fires, flooding, blizzards, and drought. The book’s depiction of more ordinary events is equally engaging; Ethel describes becoming a wife and raising children without the support of neighbors, women friends, or a wider family network, and David recounts growing up in a wild and remote place where there was no local school to attend. Readers from all walks of life will find Life on Muskrat Creek to be a lively and provocative book.

Details
Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Lehigh University Press

Pages: 288 • Trim: 6 x 9½

978-1-61146-264-7 • Hardback • February 2018 • $51.00 • (£39.00)

978-1-61146-266-1 • Paperback • May 2020 • $19.99 • (£14.99)

978-1-61146-265-4 • eBook • February 2018 • $48.50 • (£37.00)

Subjects: History / United States / 20th Century, History / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI), Literary Collections / Diaries & Journals

Author
Author

Frances Love Froidevaux (1942–2011) taught French and ESL and founded the Bartlesville, OK, school system’s first foreign language program.

Barbara Love has worked as an archaeologist, ESL and English professor, and freelance editor.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Maps
Preface
Family Background
Chapter 1: 1910: "Rome Was Not Built in a Day"
Chapter 2: 1911: "The Customs of the Country"
Chapter 3: 1912: "Roll, Jordan, Roll"
Chapter 4:1912-13: "Love's Labor Lost and the 3 D's"
Chapter 5: 1913-15: "Raw Material"
Chapter 6: 1916-17: Growing Challenges
Chapter 7: 1918: The Beginning of the Mirage
Chapter 8: 1919: "The Equalizer"
Chapter 9: 1920: "We Will Rebuild, Again"
Chapter 10: 1921: "Never a Light But One's Own"
Chapter 11: 1922: "Earned Not Given"
Chapter 12: 1923: Daily Life on Muskrat Creek
Chapter 13: 1924: "Problems of Education"
Chapter 14: 1925: Changing Horizons
Epilogue
Bibliography

Reviews
Reviews

Life on Muskrat Creek is a riveting account of the realities of life on an isolated ranch in the early years of the Twentieth Century, a must-read for all who wonder what life was like back in "the good old days."

— Story Circle Book Reviews

“Wyoming doesn’t have a lot of great writers,” said Dr. Sherry Smith, a professional historian. Ethel Waxham Love was an exception. Love moved to Wyoming in 1905. Life on a rural, isolated ranch was a far cry from her Wellesley College background, and she wrote about her experiences throughout her life. . . “She had a wonderful sense of humor and gives great insights into what it was like to live in Wyoming in the early 20th century,” Smith said. The Love family’s newest book, “Life on Muskrat Creek: A Homestead Family in Wyoming,” tells more about their family history.
— Jackson Hole News & Guide

Life on Muskrat Creek is well written and engaging, with dramatic, vivid, and often suspenseful stories. The material does much to enrich our understanding of ranching in early twentieth-century Wyoming, especially women’s and children’s experiences.
— Cathryn Halverson, University of Copenhagen, author of Faraway Women and The Atlantic Monthly and Playing House in the American West

The story of Ethel Waxham and John Love is one of the most poignant and memorable tales in the history of the West, where dreams and harsh realities have always collided. Life on Muskrat Creek is an important and unforgettable chronicle of hope and hardship in the real West.
— Dayton Duncan, author of Out West: A Journey through Lewis & Clark’s America

Life on Muskrat Creek is an immensely informative and yet riveting account of the incredible hardships experienced by John and Ethel Love while ranching in Wyoming between 1910 and 1925. Ethel’s writing sparkles with description, and here forms an excellent contrast to the grim facts David and the editors recount.
— Linda M. Hasselstrom, author of Gathering from the Grassland: A Plains Journal

Awards
Awards

• Runner-up, Sole finalist for the Willa Literary Award in the Scholarly Nonfiction category from Women Writing the West (2019)

ALSO AVAILABLE