SOURCE: "Tales and Legends in Western American Literature," in Western American Literature, Vol. 9, No. 4, Winter, 1975, pp. 239-54.

In the following essay, Lee explores the distinctions between fact and legend in the literature of the western, and recounts tales that made their way into the lore of the Old West.

Without intending any implication regarding contemporary persons of the female gender one might remark that on the American frontier and in the earlier phases of the Old West women were a very valuable asset, particularly those ladies of the so-called respectable variety. Typical of this shortage of a rare commodity is the story told in the old California mining town of Rough and Ready. Back in the 1850's one lucky miner had a wife and several children; the rest of the town had none. Added to the miner's good fortune was the fact that his wife was a gifted...